Harry's Armada
by Celestial Moonlight Blade
Summary: Dudley wasn't the one Harry saved during his fifth year. When Dementors attack him, he ends up saving the fiery, eccentric heiress to a hidden country of wizards. She has a private army and would love to repay her rescuer - by helping with his Voldemort problem. Look out, Britain. Captain-General Harry Potter is coming home. Violence, rating may go up
1. Chapter 1

**Harry's Armada**

**Moon: Hello, I'm back! And here's to a militarized Harry Potter fanfic! This is less about waxing lyrical about the pitfalls of the HP society and more about seeing just how many Death Eaters you can blow up! I also promise a wide scale of tactics. Anyway, I do not own Harry Potter and would be a good deal richer if I did! **

**Chapter 1: Rachel Sarah Jackson**

Harry Potter was not a happy boy.

On the list of terrible summers that he had, this was easily the worst so far, even outranking the one where Dobby got him in trouble for the use of magic. He was stuck in the Dursley household yet again, only this time, none of his friends were contacting him. No letters from Sirius. No updates on what was going on now that Voldemort had returned. Nothing.

He had seen Voldemort return with his own eyes. He had seen him kill Cedric Diggory, who's only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and laugh about it. He'd suffered a full-blown Crucio, fought the most dangerous wizard alive at fourteen, and barely escaped with his life. And what did he get out of it?

He got thrown back in a jail with guardians who hated him, not allowed to use magic and being completely left on his own.

Harry had nothing to do but stew in his guilt and frustration, suffering from repeated nightmares about Cedric's death and how he might have prevented it. He wallowed in the grief of loosing a friend, even if he wasn't a close one Cedric was a nice guy. He was engulfed in frustration over being abandoned by his friends, mentor and the one family member that he had left. He missed Sirius so badly it hurt.

He had no outlet for this powerful feelings, except kicking stones in the pathway or annoying Dudley, his overweight bully of a cousin. He had no one to talk to about what was weighing down on him.

"Why did I have to live when my parents didn't?" Harry muttered to himself one particularly dark night. "Why couldn't I just sleep above the clouds with them?"

There was one particular day that he didn't want to talk about...with anyone, even if someone was talking to him. He had been having a bath, thinking about Cedric, feeling cold and heavy. Slowly, his head had slipped under the hot water.

It was only when water dripped into his lungs that he broke the surface again, coughing and struggling to breathe. After that episode, Harry only took showers, and spent a lot of time aimlessly wandering the confines of his neighborhood.

His only escape was a radio he had salvaged from the gifts Dudley had gone through and disposed of, despite being perfectly functional. He would put it on play with the volume down low so the Dusleys wouldn't hear, listening to news talks to singers on the air. He did it more frequently now. Carrie Underwood, of all singers, was proving to be a well-welcomed escape.

The other thing was a tattered copy of Ender's Game that he had gotten for a quarter at a neighbors garage sale. Reading about Ender's trials made Harry feel like his life wasn't quite as terrible as it could be. Yet, anyway. And more than anything, it was the strategies of war that drew Harry to the book.

He'd give anything for a few spaceships. That would deal with his Voldemort problem quite handily. Find which house he was staying at, nuke it from orbit. Done and done, wouldn't take him more then an hour. Then he could finally go to school without wondering who was conspiring to kill him next.

Harry sat on a swing in Little Whining, hating his life, hating Lord Voldemort, hating Albus I-know-what's-best-for-everyone-but-don't-expect-me-to-tell-you-what Dumbledore, hating the Dusleys, and generally being a very angry young man in general. His hand twitched on his wand, which he kept in his pocket. Only the threat of being expelled and having his wand snapped kept him from unleashing his frustration with a wave of magic.

He was alone. Just like he had been for all those years before he had known he was a wizard. If only he had ordered books on magic. At least he'd be able to study while he was stuck here. At least he'd have something to do other then tolerate the Dusley's verbal abuse and threats. At least he'd have something to do other then be stuck with his own thoughts.

He was even denied the comfort of his owl, Hedwig, because she had gone off with a letter for Hermione and was yet to return. Hedwig was a smart owl, so this lead Harry to believe that she was being kept away from him. This, of course, made him angrier.

"Cedric is dead, I saw it, and now no one's telling me a bloody thing." Harry muttered, kicking at gravel under the swing. The swing shifted under the strain. "Damn them all." He'd been picking up some interesting language from Dudley, who had turned into a full-blown delinquent – an overweight one at this point.

Petunia had finally put him on a diet, which was making him more unbearable then usual.

Suddenly, a chilling sensation went down Harry's spine, like pins and needles. A chill of fear. He froze, hands clenching the iron links of the chains, knuckles whitening. He knew this feeling and he dreaded it like he dreaded Voldemort himself.

This always came with a Dementor.

A frightened scream ripped through the air.

It was a girl.

Harry sprang from the swing, wand in hand, and ran in the direction of the sound. It was an ingrained instinct of his to help others, even the muggles of this neighbourhood. He rounded the corner.

There were two dementors on the street. They had cornered a girl and were hanging over her. The girl's legs had given out. They would give her the Kiss any minute.

Harry's blood boiled. If there was one thing he hated above all others, it was seeing a helpless person being put in danger. Without giving it a second thought, he whipped out his wand. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" He bellowed, with all his righteous fury behind the words.

A white stag leapt forward from the end of his wand and rushed the two dementors, antlers lowered in a charge. It forced the nightmarish creatures away, kicking and thrusting its horns, and sped further into the distance, driving them along with it.

Harry immediately ran to the girl. She was panting and breathless, her face pale. He ran to her side and knelt down.

He hadn't taken in her physical appearance when he had seen the Dementors bearing down on him. But now that he was more relaxed, his eyes took her in and his heart suddenly started pounding. Her hair was brown, slightly wavy and long, reaching past her shoulders and down to the small of her back. She was wearing a leather biker jacket and black jeans. Her feet were cloaked in iron-heeled combat boots, laced with red. Her skin was a pale white, and she blinked a few times, bright blue eyes stared up at him.

"Are you alright?" Harry managed after a moment.

Shakily, the girl started to stand up. Harry took her hands in his own, trying to ignore the sudden tightness in his chest and helped her get back on her feet.

The girl blinked several times and stared at Harry. "What...Dementors...couldn't see...where's my wand?" She asked, her voice trembling slightly.

Harry gave a slight start, his face slightly red. He would have liked to have thought that he would've known that there was a pretty young witch in his neighbourhood, considering how long he had been stuck here. He looked around and saw a black wand lying on the pavement several feet away.

"Is that it?" He asked, pointing to it.

Relief flooded the girl's face. "Yes...there it was. Those horrid monsters took me by surprise, and I dropped it." She walked over, her feet slightly steadier, and picked her wand up.

She turned around and looked Harry up and down. "You...you saved me." She said.

"Uh, yeah...I reckon I did," Harry responded awkwardly.

The girl broke into a smile. Suddenly, she ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you so much! I like my soul where it is, and without you it would have been Dementor food! You're an angel!"

Harry could feel the blood rushing to his head. He'd never been hugged by a girl his age before – definitely not one that was considerably attractive.

The girl let go after a moment and said solemnly, "I owe you my life, and I'll do anything I can to repay the debt I owe you." She raised her hand. "My name is Lady Rachel Sarah Jackson. What's your name, knight?"

"Um. Uh. Harry Potter." Harry stammered out eventually, taking her hand.

Rachel shook hard and said, "I really do owe you one. I'll be lucky if Mum _ever _lets me go sightseeing again after this. I don't want you leaving the safety of the ward lines, wizarding Britain isn't tourist country right now, you should go with a troop of guards, lalalalala. How is she expecting me to interact with other kids my age with bodyguards hanging over me every second?"

She glared up at the sky. "I wonder what Dementors are doing so far into muggle territory? Shouldn't someone be watching for them, to make sure they don't eat defenceless muggles?"

"Wait," Harry said, his head spinning, "I'm sorry, but what do you mean, bodyguards?"

"My bodyguards," Rachel responded. "Given my station, mum usually has several following me around. I like Edmund just fine, but it's impossible to chat with other girls with him hanging over me like an ax that will fall if they say something slightly inappropriate."

"Uh, I dunno if it's rude to ask, but why do you need bodyguards?" Harry asked.

"I'm my mother's only child by birth. She blood adopted Rayne, but I'm her Heir because I was born to her and dad. Well, after dad died down here my mum's been a bit paranoid about something happening to me. I practically have to sneak out of my own palace to go places." Rachel responded, twisting strands of her brown hair between her fingers.

"What do you mean, your dad died 'down here'?" Harry asked in growing confusion. This girl got stranger every time she said something.

Rachel looked confused at the question for a moment. Then she looked around and a dawning understanding came to her face. "Do you live around here?"

"Yes."

"Oh, then you're a muggleborn." Rachel nodded, looking pleased with herself for figuring that out. "Of course. I take it you wouldn't know about Elysium, then."

"Elysium?" Harry echoed, wracking his brain.

He hated it when people had to explain things that should be common knowledge to him. He might have heard Hermione say something – it sounded vaguely familiar – but it was getting away from him.

Finally something occurred to him. "Isn't that the Greek afterlife? Where heroes go?"

Rachel laughed. "Well, yeah, the names the same. But Elysium is also the name of the only all-wizard populated country in the world. The Castle Of the Sky. The Secret Safe Haven. Elysium, my home. My country. My birthright."

There was a moment of silence while Rachel waited for Harry to comprehend this. Harry, for his part, simply stared dumbly at her as she turned everything he thought he knew up on his head.

All Wizard country...

Harry's mind spun at the implications of this statement.

A home just for people like him, without having to hide magic or deal with relatives like the Dursleys. A world where you could use magic every day without making sure you weren't being watched.

The gravity of it weighed down on everything he'd ever been told, and threatened to overturn almost everything other wizards he talked to thought.

An all wizard country. One with no muggles. The closest he had ever seen to that was the all-wizard small town of Hogsmede, that was close to Hogwarts and far away from any muggle establishment.

"Seriously?" He managed weakly at last.

Rachel giggled. "Yes, seriously. I guess you really haven't heard – well, we do our best to keep ourselves hidden. The charms cast ended up being so powerful that most outside wizards doubt that we exist. But we do."

"But...but, why? Why hide?" Harry asked, dazed.

"Oh, that's a long story, and tied into our history." She smiled at him. "Since you saved my life, I think I'll start repaying you by letting you in on the secret."

Immediately Rachel launched into speech, sounding very important and professional. "Our country dates back to the time of the Greatest Four. You've heard of the witch burnings? Well, they weren't all unfortunate muggles who got misblamed or framed. Often they found real witches and wizards, and if you weren't careful you got burned alive. The Greatest Four and their teacher, Merlin, were the only Magus's that were still around after Avalon vanished into the Mist."

"Avalon is real?" Harry asked, overwhelmed.

"Yes, Avalon, King Arthur and Morgana Le Fay were all real." Rachel said. "Their impact on the world was important – even the muggles never forgot them completely, now matter how powerful the memory charms were cast over the land. It was a land of justice and harmony. Only, it didn't last. You know that Morgana learned magic from Merlin, only to turn on him in the end, right?"

"Yeah. Wasn't it because she thought he'd done something to her mother?" Harry asked, thinking about the time he'd read one version of the King Arthur myths.

"That's one suggestion. Her potential reasons have been blurred over time." Rachel said with a slight frown. "I don't know exactly why, myself. Anyway, she turned on both Merlin and King Arthur. Thanks to her plans and mechanics, Avalon was torn apart from the inside. Using the psychologically broken bastard son of Arthur – Mordred – Morgana dealt Arthur a deadly blow. She tore about his Knights by inciting an affair between his queen and his most trusted warrior. The world fell into civil war. Arthur gave up and fell into a deep slumber. Avalon vanished into Mist. Excalibur fell into the waters and hasn't resurfaced. Merlin's wife, Nimune, was entombed in stone and vanished without a trace. The Magus either fell in battle or were taken with the remains of Avalon."

Rachel paused, either out of respect or for the sake of dramatics, before continuing. "Merlin, as you can imagine, was distraught over what had happened to his wife, friend and homeland. He was the only one left. He walked among muggles for several years before happening upon, one at a time, the Greatest Four – Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Helga Hufflepuff, and Rowena Ravenclaw."

"The Founders of Hogwarts?" Harry blurted out, shocked.

Rachel looked at him in surprise, and then nodded. "They did many things over the course of their lifetime; yes, creating that school was a way of protecting young children from the witch burnings. It was a means of preserving magic in the face of hardships, a fortress of protection. But creating Hogwarts was hardly the only thing they did, though it is an important part of the story. They were fledgling Magus, and although they had created a school, the youngest – Salazar – feared that it wouldn't be enough."

Rachel began to pace at this point. "You see, Salazar had a gift of sensing evil and ambition in people and in the earth itself. He realized there was a very real danger approaching. Morgana did not perish with Avalon – or failing that, her influence remained, driven by her hatred of Merlin. She reached out with a withered hand and spread poison through the minds of the muggles, fostering hatred and distrust of magic. She told them that magic came from Hell, and people who used them were devils in disguise. There were a handful of muggles who sought to make a name out for themselves by exterminating the magical people – completely and totally. I understand modern muggles have a name for it – genocide."

Harry, engrossed in the tale, shuddered as the word hung in the air. "Wait, you mean they knew where to find the wizards? I thought our society was hidden."

"It wasn't back then." Rachel replied grimly. "After the collapse of Avalon, magicals were still recovering. They hadn't separated themselves, they had intended to keep living alongside their counterparts as they had under Arthur's rule. But discord was sown after Arthur was gone."

The brown haired girl raised her hands dramatically. "While the wizards were more powerful then the muggles, they were fewer in number after the devastating loss and war. Many young witches were lost to fires and hanging. The magical people turned to Merlin and his protoges, begging them to wipe out the enemy armies before they lost any more of their children."

"Salazar Slytherin had a hard life. His mother was one of those claimed by the fires. His father, a muggle, had betrayed them to the villagers. He barely managed to escape with his own life. He struggled through life, and had to resort to some dark magics to defend himself at his lowest points. And for this reason, Morgana started whispering to him, hoping to seduce him...and use him to destroy Merlin once and for all, for he was the last thing she hadn't destroyed. Without him, Avalon would never return. The world would plunge into darkness."

Rachel paused again, taking a deep breath. Obviously she was reaching the most important part of the story. Harry watched her, rapt with attention. She smirked slightly.

"Unfortunately for her, she underestimated Salazar's good heart. He was ambitious, but not cruel – he was devoted to making his people's lives better. He went to the woman he pined for, Hufflepuff, and they devised a plan. One that could move their little ones to a safer place, one that would hide their people from view. And one that, hopefully in the end, would silence Morgana's evil whispers."

"Hang on!" Harry protested, finally managing to find his voice again. He shook his head and blinked at Rachel, gesturing vaguely with one hand. "That's not the story I was told. I thought Salazar Slytherin was a bloodline supremest. Didn't he leave the school because he couldn't convince the others to hold that opinion too? I thought he hated any student that wasn't of pure wizarding blood."

Rachel stared at him as if he had just told her that Abraham Lincoln had advocated slavery. "What? Who the hell told you that? That wasn't him at all. Slytherin was cunning and a master of deceit, yes, but he was a good man. He protected all magical children, regardless of their parentage. If he hadn't made his sacrifice, we would all be lost."

"Sacrifice?" Harry echoed.

"I'll get there in a minute. The Greatest Four, lead by Merlin, created the first muggle-repelling wards," Rachel said. "They began building a city, which was populated by wizards escaping burnings and muggles with magical children they were desperate to hide. It was protected by Hogwarts and the most powerful barriers they could offer.

"Morgana's shadows took a mortal form again," Rachel continued explaining, "And she lead the muggles towards Hogwarts, which was originally a fortress that the wizards hid in. While Merlin, Godric, Rowena and Helga fought against the onslaught of attacks, Salazar began a complex spell. It was one that would raise the city of magic out of the ground, away from Morgana's touch, away from the muggles, and would take the rest of the magical world into hiding. So not only could the muggles not find them, Morgana would lose her power."

"Halfway through the casting, Salazar walked out into the field. He knelt before Morgana and pretended to swear allegiance to her. Morgana, thoughtless in her triumph, gave him a slice of her power. Then in a blink of an eye, Salazar drove a knife into her heart and used the power she had given him to complete the spell. Elysium broke free of the earth. Hogwarts shimmered and vanished from view. Muggles dropped their weapons, having forgotten why they were there.

Morgana was enraged; before she faded back into a black mist, she turned her wrath on Salazar. It caused him wounds so great that even Helga could not heal him, and he died in her arms. She wept and swore that she would find him again in their next life. Its said that she died of grief the next morning."

Merlin was more grieved then ever before, having lost two of the pupils that were like children to him. He charged Godric with taking care of Hogwarts and retreated to Elysium, taking Helena Ravenclaw with him. He raised Elysium above the clouds and, determined that the tragedy would not repeated itself, wrapped it in enchantments so tight even Godric and Rowena's students forgot it existed. Merlin vanished into one of the lakes. Helena Ravenclaw's descendants became the High Queens of Elysium."

Rachel finished with a flourish, and looked expectantly at Harry. For a few long moments, Harry simply stared back. What were you supposed to say when you were told a story like that?

"Uh...wow." He managed. Internally he winced. _Great response, Harry_.

Rachel seemed not to think much of that. "A bit overwhelming? I guess. I'm going to have a long talk with whoever told you that Slytherin-advocated-blood purity nonsense. I mean honestly, it didn't matter who your parents were back then – if you were a witch or wizard, you were in danger and a member of the magical community."

"So...wait. Castle of the Sky...you mean, it's literally a floating continent?" Harry said, trying to wrap his mind around this.

"Yes," Rachel said. "We had to invent a whole new series of wards when the muggles invented airplanes, so none of them would crash into us. But yes, we float. Kind of like that muggle film-thing made in Japan. Speaking of muggles, they're interesting these days, now that they're not try to kill us, aren't they? We like 'borrowing' muggle techonogy and working magic into it. Myself and my little sister Rayne could spend days in the forge if mum would let us."

"Cool," Harry murmured. That did sound appealing. "My friend's dad also likes to work with muggle things. But the Ministry doesn't think very highly of it, and his office is considered laughable."

Rachel made a face. "That's ridiculous. Muggles _are_ fascinating. I mean really, they can use hand-made illusions to make up stories! They have to do everything we do without magic! Just thinking about how they get through every day is interesting."

It wasn't quite as interesting to Harry, but he had spent his whole life with such mundane leanings. And besides, Rachel's enthusiasm was contagious; her smile made his stomach twist.

"Hang on," Harry said, his brain finally registering something else that Rachel had said a minute ago. "You called Elysium your birthright. What does that mean?"

Rachel gave Harry a beaming, regal smile. "It means, dear Harry Potter, that I'm the princess of Elysium. I will take over from my mum, High Queen Elizabeth, when I get older."

Harry stared at Rachel for one long, painful minute. The ground underneath him tilted. "You're a princess." He echoed dimly. He had just rescued a princess and he hadn't even realized it.

"Yes, I do believe that's what I said," Rachel responded playfully.

There was a cry of an owl directly overhead. Harry and Rachel looked up to see a colorful messaging bird circling overhead. A letter was dropped into Harry's hand.

Confused, Harry opened it and scanned it quickly. He paled, causing Rachel to blink in alarm. "Harry?" She looked over his shoulder at the letter.

Harry was standing frozen to the spot, reading the letter once, twice, the words refusing to sink in. He was getting expelled? They were coming to snap his wand? He'd be banned from the magical world? He might be getting a criminal trial?

Rachel read quickly. "They're going to snap your wand for saving me?" She said in disbelief.

"Evidently," Harry said weakly, turning to look at her.

"Aren't they watching, though?" Rachel demanded. "Don't they know about the Dementors? Aren't there exceptions for life or _soul_-threatening scenarios?"

"Not when your name is Harry Potter, evidently." Harry mumbled. He looked around worriedly, waiting for the Auror responsible to apparate onto the road and separate him from the magical world for good. "What am I going to do?" He asked helplessly.

Rachel's face became a mask of righteous anger. "Not wait around here!" She undid one of her two necklaces and held it out in front of her.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"International Portkey to Elysium." Rachel responded. "You can stay with me until these idiots figure out how stupid they're being."

"Seriously?" Harry asked, eyes wide. "You don't mind?"

"I owe you my soul, Harry." Rachel said with deceptive lightness. "I think keeping some idiot from snapping your wand is where I can start repaying you. Now grab on!"

After a second's hesitation, Harry took hold of the chain. Rachel closed her eyes, and there was a rough tugging sensation at his stomach – like the portkey to the Quidditch World Cup, but much more powerful.

With that, Harry was gone from Little Whining.

And towards a different outcome for the war.

**End Chapter**

**And here...we...go! Bit of a short start, bit of an info dump, but it gets better and better from here, you can count on it! You can expect a much bigger cast in later chapters, mostly canon characters, never you fear! I haven't quite decided on pairings yet - it's not nessecarily Harry/Rachel - but expect Harry, Rachel, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Susan to play big parts in this story.**

**Read and review please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Harry's Armada**

**Moon: Welcome back to Harry's Armada! Thank you to everyone who was lovely enough to review! If I may ask nicely - more please! Tell me what you like and stuff I might have missed! Now this is another set-up chapter, next one deals with recruitment! Tell me which characters you want to see most in the ranks of Harry's army! I do not own Harry Potter...enjoy!**

**Chapter 2: Elysium**

Harry stumbled and fell over when he felt ground under his feet again. The whirling of the portkey made him violently dizzy, and the sky was still turning in circles as he lay down on the ground. His hands touched soft green grass as he lay on his back. "You know what?" He said eventually. "I'm just going to lie here until the world stops spinning."

He heard Rachel laugh lightly from somewhere on his right. There was a gentle click of her heels on the grass and then she appeared right above him, offering him a hand. He scowled up at her for a second before he smiled too.

"It takes some time to get used to, huh?" Rachel giggled.

"I don't have much experience," Harry said mock resentfully, but her laughter eased his heart. He took the offered hand and was pulled to his feet. A moment later, the world stopped tilting wildly and he was able to stand on his own. And then he could finally take in the scenery.

They were standing at the foot of the biggest tree Harry had ever seen in his life. Its leaves shifted in the wind and its branches seemed to touch the sky, casting a cool shadow over him and Rachel. It was the biggest in what was obviously a garden, with flowers Harry had never seen before. It was a big place, with soft grass under his feet and a very lively look – very different from the cold, grey and lifeless streets of Privet Drive. A couple of foxes were poking their noses out of the trees, curious about the new arrivals. Song birds twittered overhead. Harry took a deep breath of the clean air and nearly felt dizzy all over again.

"This is one of the gates right behind the palace." Rachel said. "Usually you use the main gate, but my personal portkey always takes me back here."

"It's beautiful," Harry murmured, walking in a circle so he could take everything in. "I've never seen a place like this."

Rachel squeezed his hand a bit. "You haven't seen everything yet. Come on, I'll show you where I live."

With that, Rachel started walking, Harry right behind her.

"So, what's Hogwarts like these days?" Rachel asked curiously. "I've only hears stories about it from old times. Has anything changed?"

"Well, whoever was supposed to keep record of what happened back then didn't do a very good job of it," Harry responded awkwardly. "So there's this great big rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor for no real reason. They're constantly trying to outdo each other and there have been skirmishes."

Rachel groaned. "Completely ignoring the fact that Godric was a close friend of Salazar's and would have been aghast to see strife between their houses. Good lord. Is it just because of some mistranslated history?"

"Well, there's the fact that You-Know-Who was in their house when he was still taking school there, but that was over fifty years ago..."

"You-Know-Who?" Rachel echoed. "I don't know who, sorry."

"Well, I guess you wouldn't, if he's never come up here." Harry responded. "His real name is Tom Riddle, though these days he goes by Voldemort." He paused, wondering if something was going to happen. When nothing did, he continued. "He's a Dark Wizard – one of the darkest in recorded history."

Rachel looked grave. "I see."

"He's been around twice – first in the time of my parents. We thought we were rid of him-" Harry's mind flashed back to the graveyard and Cedric's dead body. "-but last year he made a comeback. I saw it myself."

"You saw it?" Rachel exclaimed. "God, Harry, are you alright? Did you at least talk to someone about it?"

"Not really," Harry responded, he couldn't help the note of resentment that slipped into his voice as he remembered the lack of letters he had received so far. "I live with my aunt and uncle, and they're not really the talking and understanding type. My friends have been quiet, and so has my teacher."

Rachel threw her arms in the air. "That's not just insensitive, that's dangerous! Witnessing the return of the most feared wizard you know is not good for your mental health! Why wouldn't they talk to you and make sure you were okay? Are you okay?"

"I've been better," Harry confessed, "But I think I'll be okay now."

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked, pausing in their travel to turn and face him. There was genuine concern in her bright blue eyes, and it made Harry's stomach twist painfully. So few people expressed outward concern for him that it never failed to surprise him when it happened – or warm him on the inside towards that person.

"Yeah." Harry said, doing his best to make his voice firm. "I mean, my aunt and uncle aren't supportive but I've gotten used to that by now. I'll be fine."

Rachel frowned at this, and Harry was relieved when she asked a different question. Though there was a look in her eye that plainly stated that she'd be asking more about the Dursleys later. "How'd you escape?" She asked, referring to Voldemort's return.

"It's true Voldemort's dangerous, but he's not particularly bright, I'd say." Harry said. "He pretty much gave me an escape door. If it wasn't for him insisting to duel me in the graveyard I probably wouldn't have been able to get away."

"Why would he wanted to duel you alone, if he was surrounded by his flunkies?" Rachel asked. "I've never known a rouge wizard to do that."

"Well, I was his downfall last time, so he wanted to make a point..." Harry glanced at Rachel, who was studying his face oblivious to his scar, before realizing that if she didn't know who You-Know-Who was, she wouldn't know that he was the boy-who-lived. They'd had a few entire conversations go by without her even thinking about it, without it there to colour her judgement. Harry considered this and couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"What?" Rachel said, blinking at his sudden laughter.

"It's just strange," Harry explained. "I've gotten so used to people knowing my story and either judging me or taking advantage of me based on it that it feels weird having to tell someone about it." He sighed. He'd come to terms with his parents sacrifice years ago, but telling the story to someone else was a different matter altogether.

"I won't judge," Rachel said, blinking. "I think that sounds really stupid. You've already shown me that your brave and kind."

Harry blushed under the praise. He still wasn't good at receiving stuff like that. "Well, you see my parents were part of the original resistance against Voldemort, back when he was first rising to power. For some reason – and I still don't know what that is – he decided to target them. Mum and dad tried to hide themselves under the Feildus Charm and asked my godfather Sirius Black to be secret keeper. They had all been very tight friends at school, along with a teacher of mine Remus Lupin and their other friend Peter Pettigrew. However, in the end someone decided that Sirius was too obvious a secret-keeper and that was dangerous, so they switched it to Peter. That was a mistake."

Rachel inhaled sharply. "He didn't."

"He did," Harry said darkly. "Pettigew had been a spy for Voldemort for over a year before he betrayed my parents. It's a pity they didn't guess it was him, because they thought Lupin was the actual spy, when he was innocent. He never would have betrayed them. Well, Voldemort came to our house. He killed my parents and tried to kill me."

Rachel's eyes widened with understanding. She reached up and touched the scar on his forehead. "Oh, Harry..."

"And there's where the weird part came in," Harry said. "He tried to kill me, but he failed. The curse bounced back and destroyed his body, leaving me with this scar on my head. Well, Dumbledore – he's the current Headmaster of Hogwarts, see – told me that my mother loved me enough to offer to die in my place, and when Voldemort killed her her love for me became a protection so strong that Voldemort couldn't penetrate it. And when he tried, it blew up in his face." He gave a dry chuckle. "Most dangerous wizard in history and he dies because of a baby. It's a wonder the guy still has followers after that."

"Love..." Rachel murmured in understanding, "That's right Harry, her sacrifice would have invoked one of the oldest magics in existence. Very old, and very powerful. She must have been a wonderful woman."

Harry nodded, managing to smile at this. He remembered the day when he truly saw his mother for the first time – in the reflection of the Mirror. That was still one of his favourite memories, even if the mirror itself had been potentially dangerous. "Yeah."

"So this Voldemort character is still around?" Rachel asked for clarification as they started walking again.

"Yeah," Harry said.

"And he's come after you before," Rachel added.

Harry glanced sideways at her. "It's that obvious?"

"I had a feeling," Rachel responded grimly. "There are usually a few desperate extremists around even after their leader falls...and...well, there are a few ways to preserve your life...but they're all very dark, and deadly foolish besides...but I wouldn't put anything past a guy who would murder a one year old...what exactly happened when he made his comeback?"

"He used my blood and a few other things to make a new body for himself," Harry explained, his tone going numb as he started remembering the graveyard. "He killed another student who was in the graveyard with me just because he was there."

Rachel's blue eyes narrowed. "You say this guy had followers. Any idea how many?"

"Loads," Harry responded unhappily. "Just about all purebloods follow him eagerly, because he says that only those of pure blood have the right to practice magic...he fancies himself Slytherin's heir, and flouts that to anyone who that might get on board...there were over thirty that came just to his initial resserection, and back in the old days he had loads of Dark Creatures on his side."

"Dark creatures?"

"Werewolves that embraced their insanity, Gaints, and probably others that I haven't heard about...he also has the Dementors on his side, so he can get into Azkaban to break out the rest of his band of nut jobs."

"Wait," Rachel said, stopping. "Those Dementors that attacked me. They were meant for you, weren't they?"

Harry blinked, and frantically thought back. "I...oh Merlin, I didn't think of it that way...but how does he know where I live? I thought the whole point of getting stuck at Privet Drive was that it was better then getting horribly killed!"

Rachel looked grim. "He must have been busy over the summer. Probably tortured your location out of the handful of people who knew it...it's the logical thing to do..."

Harry's heart was hammering. Suddenly his lack of letters from Sirius or Remus was ominous. Had one of them been found by the Death Eaters? Had they been throw in a cellar somewhere, tortured until they gave up where Harry lived...a wave of nausea swept over him, and it was all he could do to stay on his feet. "I don't know what he's been doing this summer," He admitted, "No one's told me anything of value ever since I left school back in the fall."

"What?" Rachel demanded. "What's the point of that? The very first person he'll come after when he's regained his strength is the person that defeated him last time! If what your telling me is completely accurate, he's got a good seventy years of experience on you! It makes no sense to tell you nothing! Are they at least giving you extra training?"

"No, they aren't." Harry said with a sigh.

Rachel threw her arms up in the air. "No wonder they were loosing the war last time! Oh, wait until I tell Mother about this. I'll have her start reviving the army."

"The army?" Harry repeated.

"Well, if he has a lot of followers human and otherwise, you're going to need your own forces." Rachel responded matter-of-factly. "If you're the only one who can defeat Voldemort last time, that's probably true now as well. It's called magical singularity. And if you _are _the boy-who-lived, you're a figerhead for people to rally behind. Now all you need are some soldiers and you'll be ready to go."

"Soldiers," Harry said, his mind spinning. He never would have asked that of Rachel, although it had just occurred to him that as a princess, those resources were right within her grasp.

"We may not be an earthbound city anymore," Rachel told him as they stepped onto a stone walkway, "But that doesn't mean we've severed all ties to the world below us. At least, it shouldn't."

"You don't have to do this," Harry protested.

"Well, I want to," Rachel said with a smile. Harry's heart jumped wildly. "We're almost there."

Harry was about to ask her something, but whatever it was died in his throat when Rachel opened a huge brass gate with a simple gesture and he saw Elysium palace.

It glowed against the sky like a huge gold and red jewel, spires cutting against the clouds. It was something straight out of a fairy tale, with gleaming gates, tall towers and a massive sprawling courtyard out front. It towered over what Harry could just see as a complex of cities, not like downtown London but in a strange manner that seemed to live in harmony with the greenery around it. It was the most beautiful building Harry had ever seen.

A young girl with golden-red hair ran up the pathway towards them. Harry had been too busy staring at the palace to notice until she launched herself into Rachel's arms. "Big sister! You're back!" She cheered.

Rachel giggled. "I am," She said with a smile. "Hello, Rayne."

Rayne stood up. "Do you like my new dress Rachel?" She spun in a circle, showing off a practical silver dress with decorative belts on it. "I chose it myself!"

"It looks _beautiful_," Rachel responded earnestly, picking the girl up under her arms and holding her up face to face. If Harry had to guess, he would have put her at Colin Creevy's age; she had the same size and build. She was clearly light too, or else Rachel was physically stronger then she looked. "You always look so pertty these days Rayne. I'm jealous."

"No way. You're prettier then me, your going to be High Queen!" Rayne argued back, smiling. Harry couldn't help but be reminded of a very young kitten – excitable and affectionate.

"Aw, that's nice of you Rayne." Rachel said lightly, putting her down on the ground again. "Rayne, where's mum? There's some important things I need to tell her."

"She's in the throne room. She's wondered where you went off to again." Rayne said.

"I just went for a stroll on in an Earthbound country," Rachel said. "It's a long story, Rayne, I promise I'll tell you more later."

Rayne looked curious, and then she looked up at Harry. Her green eyes grew wide. "Rachel, you brought a _boy _back?" She asked, looking Harry up and down as though he were something she'd never seen before. "You _did_!"

Rachel blushed. "It's a bit more complicated then that Rayne. I promise I'll tell you everything later."

Rayne looked a bit put out at this, but nodded. "Okay! Then I'll show you were mum is!" With that, Rayne scampered down the steps and towards the palace. Rachel chuckled and followed her, Harry hesitantly trailing along behind her.

**Back on Earth**

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, HE'S GONE?!"

Dumbledore winced as Sirius Black shouted this, standing up so fast he knocked his chair over. Molly Weasley, who would have shushed him at any other time, was now looking extremely nervous and watching Dumbledore, clearly in hopes for good news. Remus Lupin was scowling and looking almost dangerous, with Mad-Eye Moody keeping a wary eye on the usually more relaxed werewolf. Snape was currently attempting to set Dumbledore's hair on fire with his glare, Kingsley was looking grim, and Tonks just looked like she wasn't sure how to handle the current situation.

"I'm sorry, Sirius." Dumbledore said. "But I'm afraid it's true."

"That's not bloody good enough!" Sirius snapped, eyes blazing in a way that made him resemble Bellatrix Lestrange. "There – were – goddamned – DEMENTORS in Privet Drive! You can't just chase off Dementors away from _my _godson's house and then just waltz back and say 'sorry, couldn't find him!' WHERE THE HELL IS HE OLD MAN?"

"Sirius!" Tonks whimpered. "Sirius, please calm down. We can't figure out what to do by screaming at each other."

Sirius's eyes were burning, and he sat down roughly, temper not yet abated. Someday, Dumbledore thought ruefully, Sirius's temper was going to put him in a dangerous position he might not be able to get out of safely.

Sirius wasn't his only problem right now. No, his problem was named Cornelius Fudge and he was certain that he was also the problem that caused Harry Potter to disappear into thin air.

The Order of the Phoenix was currently cramped to capacity in Sirius's old house, all in the name of bad news. Kingsley had responded to a Ministry order where, apparently, Harry had cast a spell outside of school. After an entire summer where Fudge tried to destroy any credibility the poor boy possessed, he declared that Harry had to be expelled from Hogwarts and that he would be facing a criminal trial.

What he had neglected to mention was that the spell had been cast in the face of a Dementor, and the street had been virtually deserted when this occurred! The pink woman had the nerve to call this a 'mere technicality'. Dumbledore was dreading her taking up a post within the walls of his school.

She was bound to start spewing Ministry approved nonsense the minute she was though the doors. And if she thought being attacked by a Dementor a 'mere' technicality, he'd hate to think of how she'd react to a bigger emergency.

Thankfully, Dumbledore stepped in and reminded him that it was kind of _his _decision regarding who got expelled and who didn't from his own school, and that Fudge was overstepping his authority. He then sent a letter to Harry telling him to stay inside and wait for him.

But by that time, the damage had been done.

Harry had gone missing. It was an inescapable fact. The boy seemed to have simply vanished off the face of the earth. It was also a fact that there had been Dementors at Privet Drive at the same time. Dumbledore had searched high and low and had spoken to Petunia and Vernon.

What they told him was far from comforting. Apparently Harry had been outside virtually all day, and had made a habit of this. Nor did they seem particularly concerned about the fact that their nephew was gone. Dumbledore had known that the Dursleys were none to kind of Harry over the years, but this wasn't the response he would have expected from them.

But why and how was Harry missing?

Had Voldemort finally figured out where he had been hiding Harry? But how? It was true that the use of Harry's blood meant that only the house itself was truly unassailable, but how could he find Harry without setting off any of the guards he had left at Privet Drive? Or the alarms in the office? Without Dumbledore himself noticing?

He had been so sure that Voldemort would spend his time rebuilding his forces...no. He couldn't have been the one to cause the disappearance.

But if it wasn't Voldemort, then what happened? Had Harry, after chasing the Dementors away, panicked and fled after receiving orders to have his wand snapped? But if so, he should be found easily enough.

There was a trace of portkey magic on one street, but that was impossible. Dumbledore kept a variety of silver instruments in his office that would warn him if someone was threatening his most important student, and so far, they had been completely silent.

Was the Ministry involved? Surely they weren't that corrupt...but Fudge had just tried to have Harry expelled over something very trivial, something that could have killed him or worse had he not been able to cast a patronus. Fudge was completely unwilling to either let go of the Dementors or believe his word that Voldemort was back...how far was he willing to go to keep Harry silent?

It seemed very unlike Fudge to try such a thing...but he had become increasingly erratic over the course of the past summer. Would he do it?

Alastar had declared it an International Portkey when he tested the signature, but he couldn't tell where to. But surely that was impossible. Why would anyone want to remove Harry from Britain? It made no sense in the grand scheme of the most important things and Voldemort wouldn't have moved out into other countries yet. And even then, he would make a scene of it within Britain first!

Moody seemed to think that Harry had left on his own free will, citing the complete lack of struggle indicated on the streets itself. Dumbledore couldn't decide if this should comfort him or worry him more.

"Well, Dumbledore?" Dumbledore blinked, realizing that Kingsley was addressing him. "Any idea where he might be?"

"I have a few, each as unlikely as the next," Dumbledore admitted. "This entire situation is highly irregular."

"What if the Death Eaters have him?" Sirius demanded. "I told you not to send him back to that damned house!"

"It was the safest place for him," Dumbledore defended, the words sounded feeble given the situation.

"It clearly bloody well wasn't, or he'd still be here!" Sirius exploded. "What were you expecting when you left him there with no news after he watched someone die? The Death Eaters could have already killed him in the time it took you to figure this out!"

"He's not dead yet," Moody growled, adding his two cents to the matter. "He's the only person who ever defeated Voldemort in battle. Voldemort would never kill him without afterwards parading around Britain with his corpse to prove it, however that _doesn't _rule out that they might have him locked up somewhere, trying to get information about the Order, the Ministry or the school out of him."

Molly gave a dry sob. Arthur put a comforting hand on her shoulder while Bill watched the scene grimly. The Weasleys considered Harry part of their family after everything the boy had done for them over the few years he'd known them, and there would be hell to pay if they discovered he'd been tortured or imprisoned.

"I have to say Dumbledore this isn't reflecting very well of your handling of this situation." Snape said in his usual dry, icy tone. "Did you really think Mundungus was a good guard for Harry? If you'd let me watch over him, we wouldn't be in this situation."

"I had my reasons," Albus responded long suffering.

"Once again reasons you clearly don't feel necessary to share with the rest of us!" Moody snapped. "Harry Potter is missing, no one's hand contact with him in weeks because you insisted on it and you still won't explain why."

"I feared that there might be a connection between Harry and Lord Voldemort," Albus said finally. He knew Alastar wouldn't let him go until he had something to go on, and with Harry missing there really weren't a lot of options left.

"A connection?" Remus repeated. "Of what sort?"

"It's in the scar Harry received from Voldemort when he first reflected the spell," Albus said slowly. Molly gasped. "I'm still not sure of the extent of it, but Voldemort might be able to discern things around Harry or thoughts in his mind through this connection. This is why I felt reluctant to tell him about the Order's progress – lest Voldemort hear it through him."

**At Elysium, in the Palace Medical Chamber**

"Lord Edmund is correct. There is something here," The healer told Harry, her fingers glowing gold as the traced the lightning shaped scar.

Harry was lying on his back on a comfortable hospital bed inside the palace infirmary. Inwardly, he was grateful for it, because he couldn't remember having a longer day in his entire life.

They had wandered through the castle, Harry gawking at just about everything he saw, when they'd eventually reached one of the main entrance rooms. Rachel had met up with her head bodyguard Edmund and gave him a short explanation on the situation, who Harry was and the problem he was facing.

She didn't seem too fazed over the fact she was probably in a good deal of trouble. Edmund had already read her part of the riot act for apparently running off to the Surface alone, before saying her mother would finish the lecture.

Rachel _had_ looked appalled at this, but didn't argue.

Edmund had then approached Harry and sized him up. He thanked him for saving Rachel and then asked him to elaborate on his tale of Voldemort. Relived, Harry told the story again from the beginning, starting with the attack on him when he was in school to the dark lord's history.

When Harry had gotten to the part about reflecting the curse, Edmund had given a start. He asked him if anyone had examined it fully. The only answer Harry could really give him was a confused shrug. Then things got strange. Edmund put a thumb on Harry's scar. A bolt of pain raced through Harry's head, leaving him dizzy and stumbling back into Rayne, nearly knocking the poor girl over.

Edmund had grimly informed him at this point that there was residual magic inside the scar on his forehead. Dark magic, judging by its reaction to his cure spell.

He then sent Harry straight to the Infirmary while Rachel had to speak with her mother, the queen, saying that he'd contact one of their best Healers to try and remove it. Rayne had decided that Harry was interesting enough that she was going to follow him around, so she had gone with him. Currently she was sitting in a chair next to Harry's bed as Healer Violet Grace examined the old scar.

"This is old magic, and very illegal." Violet said with a frown, looking down at Harry. "I don't like the look of this...Harry, tell me. Have you ever felt pain here?"

"Yes," Harry responded. "Whenever I have nightmares about Voldemort. And sometimes – sometimes it's almost like I'm sharing his feelings and thoughts."

Violet's eyes widened for a second, but she relaxed too quickly for Harry to read her expression. She looked down at her clipboard, grimaced slightly and summoned a pen. Rapidly she scribbled something on the paper recording his condition.

"Is it hurting me?" Harry asked, turning his head on the pillow. Violet reminded him of Poppy in many ways, which made the huge, glistening infirmary feel almost like home.

"Not yet. But it is dangerous," Violet responded. "I'm sorry, but I'll have to look at some of the oldest healer records before I dare proceed any further. There are some spells meant to counter this magic, but it's been centuries since anyone's ever used it."

"What is it, exactly?" Harry said nervously. He really didn't like the sound of that. Well, there was always something wrong whenever the year started. It was only a matter of time before something came up. And anything that might explain the pain and the nightmares was welcome at this point.

"Residual dark magic." Violet explained. "Voldemort is a twisted man indeed, if he's using this kind of magic in battle..." Her eyes shadowed. "I can't imagine what a world under him would look like."

Harry shivered. "I know. I've thought about it a lot."

Violet put a sympathetic hand on Harry's forehead. "You aren't alone anymore Harry," She said. There was a kindness to Violet when she used his first name that kind of reminded him of Molly Weasley. Harry sighed. His anger towards Ron for not writing to him had abated thanks to this experience, and now he just wished he could see him.

"Thank you."

Violet preformed a few more diagnostics on Harry. "You're clearly no stranger to the hospital, Mr. Potter," She said lightly. "Your personal Healer must be talented."

"Actually, she's just the school nurse," Harry said sheepishly. "But yeah. I...I'm kind of a danger magnet, even at school."

"You were there for Princess Rachel." Violet responded simply. "That's all that matters to us. I'm sure once Lady Elizabeth calms down she'll want to thank you personally."

Harry blushed lightly, and prayed that if the High Queen did visit him personally, he wouldn't forget how to talk.

"So Harry has scary magic inside him?" Rayne asked for clarification.

"Yes, Princess Rayne. Are you sure you should be here?" Violet asked with a certain amount of fond exasperation.

"I wanted to meet the boy Rachel brought home," Rayne responded earnestly. "Maybe he's her true love!"

"Rayne, you've been watching too many Disney movies," Violet admonished while Harry blushed furiously at the suggestion. "How about you go write anther article for the newspaper?"

Rayne blinked and said, "Okay! See you later Harry!" She vaulted off her chair and hurried out of the room.

Violet chuckled. "That girl has too much energy for her own good. Now Mr. Potter, you're a little undernourished, but I can fix that..."

**Later**

Harry had slept peacefully in his hospital bed after Violet Grace had finished her examination. For once, no nightmares disturbed him. No, his dreams were a whirlwind of images, the great battle on the plains of Hogwarts to the death of Salazar Slytherin to Elysium, floating like a crystal in the sky as airplanes flew right on by, oblivious to its presence.

He dreamed of himself swooping down on London from the cockpit of a plane, shooting up streets full of Death Eaters before zooming to safety. He dreamed himself leading a troop of soldiers – inexplicably provided by all his friends at Hogwarts – through the Ministry with Voldemort's head on a pike. He dreamed of muggleborns and half bloods safely dancing on the streets, rejoicing of the death of their enemy. And finally, he dreamed of himself sitting in the gardens of Elysium with a woman by his side he couldn't name, two wild children running about the garden asking him questions about how he brought peace to the surface.

_Harry. _

A woman's voice rang gently through his mind.

_I wish this was real, _he thought wistfully.

_It is possible, in time, _the woman's voice responded mysteriously. _But you will need to lead people there, or peace will never come. Now, wake!_

Harry opened his eyes.

"Morning, Harry." Rachel was back. She was still dressed in her muggle clothes, but there was a sophisticated look to them that seemed to ill suit her. Rayne was there, rocking back and forth on her heels as though she could barely contain her energy. Edmund and two other men were standing to one side, swords clipped to their belts and wands in one hand, observing the walls and shadows watchfully. That wasn't what was different.

Inbetween Rachel and Rayne was a tall, imposing woman with dark hair and blue eyes. There was a glint to them usually associated with eagles, in sharpness and in intelligence.. She was wearing a dress and a tiara, and after a second Harry realized that this was High Queen Elizabeth, Rachel's mother.

Elizabeth watched Harry for a moment, before saying, "Greetings and good morning, Harry James Potter." She said. Her voice was willowy, and smooth, every bit as regal as the body it belonged to.

Harry scrambled out of his bed and quickly bowed as low as he could. "H-Hello, ma'am."

"Stand up straight," Elizabeth smiled ever so slightly. "I understand that you saved my daughter's soul from two dementors at great risk to yourself."

"Um, y-yes, I suppose I did. Anytime," Harry said, feeling even more nervous then the first time he had spoken face to face with Dumbledore.

"I also understand that your life, and the lives of those close to you, are threatened by a dark wizard by the name of Voldemort." Elizabeth continued. "On Elysium, a debt must never go unpaid. You saved my daughter's life, now I will offer you the instruments to save your country. My daughter's private force is yours to command, the moment you are ready."

**End Chapter**

**Ah, Fumbledore. You know, I really don't understand why he felt the need to hide the first half of the prophecy from Harry. Voldemort already knows it! Even if he hears every word he tells Harry, he _already knows what his own plan is_. Ugh, Order of the Phoenix ends on a weird note. Once again - which side characters and students do you want to see in Harry's army the most? I have a few in mind, but I was hoping for a large number! What do you think? **

**Read and Review please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Harry's Armada**

**Moon: Hi! Sorry you guys had to wait on this chapter, but it took me a while to figure out which direction I could take this in that hadn't been done to death, and I wanted to get a lot of the standard talking out of the way first. I do not own Harry Potter...enjoy!**

**Chapter 3: Prepare for War**

"They have one kid that is the only one who can destroy a dark lord, and they teach him how to pot Mandrakes and disarm people," griped Rachel. "Hogwarts is going to be restaffed after this whole mess is dealt with. I won't have _this _be the legacy of the four Founders! Greatest magical school out there indeed!"

Harry was panting in a desperate attempt to regain air and scowled at the brown haired girl across the room from him. "I think after all I've survived, this is going to be the thing that kills me." He complained.

"Oh, don't complain Harry. Complaining is unbecoming of a Potter and a hero. Besides, you're going to have to get used to this if you're planning on winning a war!"

Rachel had decided not long after Elizabeth reopened her private army that Harry was going to need to be trained in the art of war. Harry had given her a demonstration of what he had learned, and to his surprise and dismay she had been utterly horrified at how completely under prepared he was for what was coming up. She had then taken it upon herself to begin to teach these things to him, with some help from Edmund and the other praetorian guards.

What had followed was being nothing short of a nightmare for Harry, who had been a bit of an underachiever (having picked up some of these habits from Ron). In the morning he was handling firearms and taking driving tests. In the afternoon after a quick lunch he was taken to the Duelling room and being worked mercilessly by illusions of attackers and Rachel herself.

Rachel, who had proven to be a much stronger wizard then Harry had been expecting. Rachel, who gave him no mercy and no quarter whenever they preformed their mock duels.

"Could you please slow down?" Harry protested as Rachel let loose another barrage of spells of all types at him, as he had to jump from one elevated poll to another to avoid them, often being knocked off and sent flying onto the gently padded floor beneath him.

"Slow down?" Rachel inquired with a raised eyebrow. "Will the Death Eaters be moving slower then this? Will they be using disarming spells and light elemental spells?"

Harry resisted the urge to groan through gritted teeth as he pushed himself to his feet. That was becoming some of Rachel's favourite questions whenever he started lagging in his training again. He supposed that she was right, but he had said that the Death Eaters hadn't attacked in force like this, in rows of enemies like a muggle battlefield. To that, Rachel responded that it was simply what he hadn't seen, and that the Death Eaters hadn't done this yet because their forces were still recovering. And now that the Ministry was giving them ample time and resources to repair their broken ranks, it likely wouldn't stay that way for long. She told him to expect the worse, to go into this second war believing that it would be worse then the one that had proceeded it.

"You have to be ready to take on all of Britain!" Rachel told him on the third day, as Harry faced a floor of magma. His job that morning had been to freeze it solid with one spell, which he was still failing to do. "Every inch of that country could be against you, and you have to be ready for that!"

"But every inch of the country isn't against me!" Harry had said to her, casting the spell once again in frustration. It only succeeded in turning the magma to water.

"That's getting better," Rachel said, waving a hand that changed the water back into its original form. So far, just about everyone Harry had seen on Elysium could use wandless magic as easily as breathing, and his lack of ability in that department had irked Rachel to no end. Try as he might, he had a hard time transfiguring a chair into a lion with his wand, much less without it. When he asked how she could do it so easily, she said that he should have been taught this already, and that in Elysium people younger then him already knew the basics. Hogwarts had apparently taught wandless much earlier in its earlier years.

"I haven't had experience," Harry had said after his fifth failure to cast _Expelliarmus _nonverbally. He had thought that the spell he had used the most would have come easily to him, but he was stumped.

"That won't matter to the Death Eaters," Had been Rachel's response, "And only being able to speak your spells puts you at a disadvantage. If they put you under a silencer you wouldn't be able to cast at all! And unless you have your sidearm on you when that happens, you'd be dead in less then a minute."

"I've never seen anyone aligned with Voldemort use a silencing spell," Harry griped. "They all just jump straight to _Crucio _and _Avada Kedavera_."

"Well, good for them – it makes them predicable and you can mess with their patterns," Rachel said, before firing a stunner at him unawares. Harry jerked and it hit his right arm, knocking him over backwards. She had also taken to hexing him without warning at various occasions, to test his reflexes. He was still getting used to it.

"Not all of them are going to be that stupid, you know. And the werewolves probably aren't going to bother with that." Rachel continued before making the magma vanish. Harry pushed himself into a fighting stance, watching her warily.

Harry blanched, "You want me to fight werewolves?"

"They're going to be there," Rachel responded matter-of-factly. "Even if the old packs that stood with Voldemort don't rejoin him immediately, given how you've talked to me about the way the Ministry treats werewolves, they'll probably feel bullied enough that they'll join anyone who promises them a better life. So yes, you'll be fighting werewolves."

"I've only seen one of those, and he was almost completely spell resistant!" Harry said, remembering his near miss with Professor Lupin during his third year.

"Silver, Harry. The weakness of a werewolf is silver, you have to incorporate that or there's no point in trying at all." Rachel said, sounding faintly exasperated. She restarted the simulation, causing Harry to swear and duck behind an upturned sofa. It was promptly hit by a dozen green lights, signifying the curse he had survived as a child.

"Why else do you think they're so formidable?" Rachel yelled over the noise as Harry turned to his environment for a way out of his situation. He used a blasting curse to start an avalanche, and with the opponents distracted he sent a powerful _Fiendfyre _out from behind his cover. Those who survived it scattered, the fire chasing after him.

"Good," Rachel said approvingly as Harry struggled to break the spell. "Don't even get me started on the trolls. They'll be worse then the werewolves in some ways, bigger then them, stupider but just as mean. Their stamina outmatches every living creature except the dragons – and be grateful that Voldemort hasn't had any of those."

Harry thought about the dragon he had been forced to fight in the arena of the Tri Wizard tournament and winced at the thought of Voldemort coming to Hogwarts with a few of those in two.

"None of this should be a surprise to you, Harry!" Rachel exclaimed. "This isn't going to be a game, like exchanging petty words with that Draco brat in the hallways! People will die if you aren't careful of what you do or what you save. There won't be any rules of engagement or acts of mercy on your opponents behalf. They'll be fighting to kill and you have to as well!"

"But I don't want to kill people," Harry said, pushing himself to his feet. His wand still felt red hot in his hands. "That's wrong."

"Of course you don't," Rachel responded with some sympathy, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "And I hope that you won't have to do it many times. But if you're going to be in battles like this, people are going to die. Sometimes you have to kill your enemy to stop him from getting back up again."

"I don't want to blast people out of my way just because they're there! That's Voldemort's job," Harry responded stubbornly.

"Merlin Harry! Don't you see the fallacies of the moral equivalency argument?" Rachel said in disbelief.

"Fallacies?" Harry echoed, wondering if he should feel indigent or utterly confused. He did feel confused and he was so tired of feeling that way all the time.

"Killing is wrong on principal, but killing someone to stop them from, say, pushing a button that will kill every child in England does not put you on the same moral level as the bastard with the trigger!" Rachel said, flinging her arms up in the air. "There's a fundamental difference between fighting for your right to live and your loved one's rights to live and killing innocents and torturing them for the fun of it! Harry, lets say you kill Bellatrix Lestrange. Would you say that removing her from the face of the earth is morally abhorrent?"

"Hell no! Not after everything that bitch has done! I was told what she did to Neville's parents and it makes me sick. All three of them deserved a whole lot better then that and I know from him just how much that psycho enjoyed killing," Harry responded heatedly mostly without thinking, and then paused to think about what he had just said.

"See Harry? There's no point in putting someone like her in Azkaban hoping that she'll eventually turn around. People like her never change. I'm not saying it's easy to kill, even for someone like her, but the world would be a whole lot safer without them."

"But the Order of the Phoenix managed to stop Voldemort last time without killing most of his forces," Harry said, rooting around inside his mind for more examples like this. "They threw them all in Azkaban, and that's the worst prison in the world."

Rachel frowned when he told her this, and tucked her brown hair behind one ear. "Harry, let's sit down for a second. Before you go anywhere you need to get these things straight."

She summoned two chairs from the hallway and had Harry sit down. Relieved, Harry did so and then watched the young woman's face. Rachel seemed pretty smart to Harry, so he trusted what she told him because she had been right so far.

"Remember what else Cornelius Fudge pointed out about the time right before you made Voldemort disappear as a child?" Rachel asked.

Harry shook his head, wondering what she was getting at.

"They were loosing the war, Harry. Loosing badly, from what you've told me. I'm willing to bet that they lost two people for every one Death Eater they took into custody as opposed to trying to kill during the battles. If you have two sides where one is using lethal force and the other one isn't, they're giving the first side a huge edge over them."

"What makes you think that?"

"If you give someone a light punishment that doesn't appropriately match the crime they committed, they aren't going to feel remorse because of it," Rachel responded. "They're going to think you're weak, and it gives them incentive to do it again because they know they're just going to be given the same punishment as before, something they can walk away from and be done with in a few weeks. I can't think of a better example for that then your little friend Draco Malfoy."

"He's been punished...a few times..."

"By his head of house, who's obviously prejudiced in favor of him," Rachel pointed out. "And have any of these 'punishments' truly deterred him from his behavior?"

"No, not really," Harry said, thinking about the time that Draco put his effort into trying to get Hagrid fired from his position as Care of Magical Creatures teacher.

"Yes. So, after he openly said that he was glad that children of a group he despised were being threatened, hurt and potentially in mortal danger, he wasn't even rebuked by the teachers present," Rachel said. "He's clearly showing signs that his father has been raising him to be the pet of the next dark lord even if Voldemort hadn't returned."

"I figured he was just being a racist brat."

"If you blow it off that easily, no wonder Slytherin breeds so many dark wizards!" Rachel snapped. "The whole student body treats them like a bunch of pariahs, including the teachers. This attitude drives them towards the very dark magic they were accused of, and when no one tries to direct them away from that path they're engulfed by it!"

"I hadn't thought of it that way," Harry murmured, thinking about all the times he was glad Slytherin was put down a notch, especially in first year.

Rachel shook his head. "You were very clearly indoctrinated into that thought process, Harry, don't blame yourself." She said. "You walked into the wizarding world knowing virtually nothing about it and just believed what you were told."

"Well when you put it like that, it doesn't make me feel much better," Harry said grumpily.

"I'm helping you out though," Rachel said gently. "I wouldn't be able to do that if I didn't point out what was wrong."

"I guess not."

"My point is, has Draco ever received a punishment that has even slightly convinced him to hold back on his scorn of muggleborns?"

"No,"

"There's your next death eater, then. He thinks that his actions have no consequences because he's a rich pure blood and he's never had anyone stand up to him other then you or Hermione or Ron. And whenever you guys do that, you're usually the ones who get points docked, if I understand you correctly?"

"Yes," Harry said, feeling a flash of resentment in his gut as he thought about the number of times that Snape had arbitrarily docked points from him or his friends while not doing the same for Draco or another Slytherin. "Hermione decked him once."

Rachel's eyes widened for a second, and then she grinned. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Give him a black eye?"

"I wish. I think maybe it did, though, and he went to our mediwitch. He'd never admit that he got punched by someone like her, I think."

"Awesome. Probably the best thing that happened to that brat," Rachel said.

"No kidding." Harry said with a smile.

"Either way, it still proves the point I'm making. Draco thinks that his actions have no consequences. And when he grows up and is given the power that his father has now, he'll have a few laws changed so that he can do it legally. And since no one is willing to confront him or his father's illegal dealings, he'll probably get away with it, and life will be much harder for the people he doesn't like."

"Merlin! But that can't be right. That wouldn't happen."

"The Ministry sent out an order for your wand to be snapped for chasing of a dementor that attacked me and tried to take my soul," Rachel reminded him. "The system sounds so wonky it's a wonder that its still standing on its own, much less against the Death Eaters. Besides, if this is anything like a real war Voldemort's probably having people infiltrate the Ministry."

"You're kidding!"

Rachel stared at Harry. "Harry, who's trying to prepare you for this war? Do they have the faintest idea of how it works? Of course Voldemort is infiltrating. It's one of the first things that you do in war; take over the government so that you can do all the torturing sacking and murdering that you want without having to worry about identification or arrest."

Harry's mind swam. "I didn't know about any of these things. I thought that Dumbledore was keeping things under control...I wasn't being told anything about the war effort."

"Keeping things in the dark, huh? Fudge is probably being swayed by Malfoy into the death eater way of thinking. That might even explain that wand-snapping note that you got from them. Would get you out of Voldemort's way quite handily."

"What! But he can't have moved that fast! He just came back to life two months ago," Harry looked at Rachel anxiously. "Can he?"

Rachel bit her lip. "You're right...that would be a pretty fast movement, though Malfoy has been dealing with the Ministry for years before hand...it's hard to judge from a distance. You won't know for certain until we get back closer to the ground world."

"I'm not sure about Voldemort, as a whole. He I think he's like a very in-your-face kind of monster. Nothing really subtle about him. When the changes come, they should be obvious to see." Harry said seriously.

"If we're fortunate, that could be true," Rachel said thoughtfully. "It's much easier to fight a war when you're enemy clearly defines himself that way."

"I thought that the Ministry was on our side though, I mean they searched for Sirius two years ago when they thought he was Voldemort's second in command."

"That was before. And times change Harry! They had little incentive to bow to Voldemort's rules back then. Back then he was still a wreck of a wizard who had lost all power. He was of no threat to them. But now he's coming back, and he's gathering his forces.

"Also, remember that Azkaban is guarded by Dementors. Dementors, as a rule, are not creatures that you should rely on! They're monsters, through and through. In Azkaban, they will have very little joy to live on, having taken it from people who have been in there for years and have none left in them. If someone were to ask them to leave their posts, they would, because what do they have in return? Lots of small towns overflowing with the feelings that they feed on, lots of souls ripe for eating often in places that their victims can't protect themselves."

"Voldemort won't be deterred by Dementors or by the walls of Azkaban itself. It would be a walk in the park for him to get past the monsters and get all his old men back. Those who aren't completely out of their minds – and they will exist – will be eager for payback because their conditions in that prison were so hellish. Not to mention, they will do just about anything to remain outside of that prison and will fight back worse then a cornered mother dragon if they think they're in any danger of being sent back to the prison."

"But where else would we send them?" Harry asked. "Azkaban is Britain's most feared prison. I don't think the other ones would have the capacity to hold people like them. That's why they were sent there in the first place right?"

"That's just a sign that those people might be too dangerous to be left alive," Rachel responded grimly. "That, or the prison wardens are in line with your enemy, because their holding cells are so flimsy and easily broken out of. Either way, it's not good news for you."

"There's never good news for me." Harry muttered.

"Well there is now," Rachel said encouragingly. "Come on, I'll take you to the plane tarmac."

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&

Learning how to fly a plane was much more fun then constantly fighting illusions.

Harry felt at home in the air, and it was like riding a metal, more complicated broomstick. In the end, that's all a plane was, really. You just had to learn to use the more complicated control panels, and it was like you were simply playing a more dangerous Quidditch Game. Harry found that once he started think of it that way, things seemed to fall into place quite easily for him. He thought about some of the tricks that he had seen during the showing of the Quidditch World Cup, and tried them out, tweaked just enough to suit his flying device.

Magic in Muggle devices in general was something Harry excelled at. He wasn't the world's greatest shot, and he was terrible with a knife so far, but he was getting better as he was given machine guns with wider ranges to work with. Grenades were easier anyway.

He couldn't wait to start with the tanks, having mastered the jets.

He passed his tests with flying colors. He graduated from helicopters to fight planes in no time at all, and spent his mornings shooting down targets with deadly accuracy. It was almost like a video game with its careful aim and the sheer number of defeats that he racked up on the simulators. He found he actually preferred sweeping in the the mounted machine guns then he did dropping firebombs from a distance!

He couldn't feel the wind in his hair, but he could swoop around the clouds, doing tight turns and dangerous stunts that the other flyers were apparently quite jealous of. He was even starting to draw crowds has he hurtled around Elysium airspace, and they would applaud to him whenever he re-emerged from his cockpit. Edmund would time him as he rushed on past, and his approval was growing steadily as the mornings flew on.

Rachel was ecstatic. She loved to fly too, apparently, and she was eager to match her skills against Harry's some time in the new future. Right now, she was trying to decide exactly who she was going to recruit into the armed forces. They would have to be ready to follow Harry's orders, and most of the veteranes were scoffing at the idea of following the instincts and battle plans of a fifteen year old who had mostly survived by luck so far.

Edmund had to upgrade the program to match his progress in a matter of days, and the trickier things got the more Harry enjoyed them. Finally finding something he was good at had given him quite the confidence boost.

His favorite where the rescue missions. The acts themselves felt quite noble, firing at close rang, stopping for a few bare seconds as he picked up his hostage off the roof of one of the towers before slamming the top of his ship down once again and tearing off, his personal shield charm bending slightly as some hits got past his guard.

"Once a Quidditch player, always a Quidditch player," Edmund had chuckled when Harry finally exited his personal black jet and took his helmet off. "And you're a natural. You should play for one of our teams when this whole fiasco is finally behind you."

"I'll keep that in mind," Harry said with a smile. He had never put much thought into his future back in Britain, outside of maybe becoming an Auror, because he was the boy-who-lived and there just wasn't anything else to it.

Up in Elysium where few people new the story of his parents and the war and his scar, he felt more like a normal boy then he had ever before in his life, he could just walk down the streets and talk to people. The citizens that he had walked past in his few hours of break were all friendly and curious, and the world in general felt much freer and more welcoming then anything before it.

Harry was walking back towards the castle with Edmund when he decided to ask something that had been on his mind. "Apparently Voldemort's name was once taboo. Almost no one back on the ground in Britain says his name out loud. How come he can't come up here?"

Edmund had given a sigh that had no small amount of exasperation in it. "Harry, there's more then just secrecy wards around Elysium! The warding mechanics that surround our noble city have much more to them then that. There are over five thousand interlocking wards to keep out invasions from the world below."

"Five thousand! That many different wards exist?"

"Not all of them are different, some are the same and cast together to give them more overall strength. There are some that are more powerful then others, take more energy, last longer and have fiercer effects! You don't defeat your enemy or convince him to leave you alone simply by tricking him into turning back."

"That's not what I've been taught over the years."

"Really? What have you been taught?"

"Apparently? Everyone where I come from seems to think that if you pretend a problem doesn't exist, it will magically disappear. Hence, redirection wards. Everywhere. The ministry completely flipped out because _two _muggles saw me and a friend of mine take off in a flying car."

"Good grief. How do they even – no, no, I don't _want _the answer to that question."

"Can you teach me more about the wards?" Harry asked curiously.7

"Hasn't your warding teacher gone over the basics of defensive warding?"

"Um, Hogwarts doesn't have a warding class. At least I don't think it does. I haven't seen any offered in the course list."

"What! Warding was one of Hogwarts's most important classes back in the day! Rowena Ravenclaw taught it herself, she invented most of the wards that are still used today!"

"I didn't know that either."

"After what Rachel told me about the false image your people have about Salazar Slytherin, why doesn't that surprise me at all?"

"Because I'm surrounded by liars back at home?" Harry suggested.

"Perhaps. But really – what do you mean, you haven't taken warding classes? It was required back then! Don't tell me – it was _dropped_?"

"I...guess?" Harry said lamely. He was starting to wish he always end up feeling so ignorant.

Edmund forwent any sense of professionalism and hit himself in the forehead with his right hand and gave an aggravated groan. "And at such a critical time...have we been so far removed from our cousins on the ground that we completely missed these things? So much as changed since the time of the Greatest Four...and not for the better, if your situation is anything to go by!"

"There are some good things..." Harry started to protest, before giving up. The more he lived and worked up on Elysium, shining like a jewel in the sky, the more he couldn't help but think of the flaws back in the world in the ground. It was not a very happy comparison, once he thought about it, and it aggravated him to think about what the sacrifices of the Founders had eventually ended up as, in the school they had left behind to protect their student.

"You know what? Forget I said anything."

"Be careful what you do forget." Edmund said to him, glancing down at him. "You can forget how frustrated you are, or what was done wrong, but never forget what you were fighting for in the first place."

Harry kept this in mind as he walked back to the dinning room for lunch. Rachel, Rayne and Elizabeth were all waiting for him, and he smiled at Rachel without realizing he was doing it. Rachel grinned back, and both Rayne and Elizabeth looked like they were trying to hide how pleased they were, for some weird reason.

Harry dismissed it as his imagination – or something they had been discussing before he came into the room.

The discussion at this meal went in a direction that Harry hadn't thought about. "There won't be a clean shot at the ones responsible unless we move the refugees, first." Rachel said though a mouthful of pasta and sauce.

"Rachel, what have I said about talking with your mouth full?" Elizabeth scolded her.

Rachel quickly swallowed. "Sorry mother. But really. I mean, there are always refugees in war, and unless we move them before hand horrible things will happen to them more likely then not. Or they'll be used against us as human shields."

"Well, the muggleborns, muggles and half bloods are still there," Harry said as he started on his own pasta. "One of my best friends is one – Hermione Granger."

"You mentioned her," Rachel said. "The really smart girl, right? The one who always seems to have the answers you need, whether they be tests or other practical things? She was one of the friends who wasn't giving you any letters, right?"

"Yeah, that's her. But I don't think my friends meant to do that. They were probably ordered by Dumbledore not to talk to me. That would be right up the old man's alley, tell me a few vauge things but nothing else," Harry said with a sigh. He had been angry at his friends before, but now he had so much to think about that his anger had mostly been directed elsewhere, towards Dumbledore to a certain extent but mostly towards Voldemort.

"Never forget who your enemy is." Rachel loved that phrase. She usually opened his training with it. Edmund didn't say it as often, but he had told Harry something similar not to long ago.

Elizabeth gave a slight snort. "That's no way to lead," she said, sounding miffed. "He can't simply sit there and do nothing."

"For all I know he's doing something," Harry said, aggravated as always whenever he thought about being stuck back in Privet Drive. "I just don't know anything about it."

"Doesn't the bad man hate the non-pure people?" Rayne questioned from her seat right next to Rachel. "Won't he kill them if they stick around?"

"The original intention was simply for the purebloods to rule everything," Harry responded, reciting what he had heard from all the adults in his life about Voldemort and the first war. "They reckon that because pure bloods are all-wizard people, they're entitled to do whatever the hell they want to everyone else. The muggleborns would be repressed, probably.

Elizabeth shook her head in disdain. "Pride. It will be the death of all men like that," She said, almost to herself.

"But not before they drag down a good portion of innocent people along with them." Rachel said. "If anything, I think that if Voldemort's planning to rule the world...well, he'll never achieve that. Not the way he handles things. More likely then not, he's going to create a black hole in the heart of Britain that will destroy everything it touches and leave shock waves that will be felt all around it, measured not in years but in generations."

"I'm inclined to agree with you Rachel," Elizabeth said gravely. "Considering everything Harry has told us and the nature of Voldemort's resurrection and the way he's maintained himself..." She paused and grimaced. "The breakdown seems inevitable."

Harry frowned. "I don't like the sound of that. What do you recommend I do?"

"You'll have to disable what will cause such destruction before it can reach it's full capacity for devastation," Elizabeth responded. "And you need to evacuate everyone that you can."

"You know what?" Harry said. "I think that's a good idea. And I think I'm going to start with the students at Hogwarts."

"Huh?" Rayne blinked.

"They're the first people who would be in danger," Harry pointed out. "Voldemort was a student there, and in a twisted way he seems to consider that place his home. The death eater kids – they're all being taught there, and the muggleborn students haven't been very well protected at all. The basilisk incident proves that beyond a doubt."

"So...you mean to go home and recruit?" Elizabeth said.

"If you'd allow me to bring them back here," Harry responded.

"Of course," Elizabeth responded, smiling ever so slightly. "Elysium as always been a sanctuary for those who are in danger. I can provide you and Rachel with portkeys back here. The Hogwarts wards will recognize the magic and will allow you to use it inside the building itself."

"Great." Harry said. He turned to Rachel. "Would you mind coming with me Rachel?"

"Of course not!" Rachel said, grinning at him. "You know I'd be happy to help."

**On the Hogwarts Express, September 1st**

"Harry!" Hermione Granger grabbed Harry and pulled him into a tight hug, nearly knocking the air out of his lungs.

"Ow! Ribs, Hermione!" Harry said lightly, gently disentangling himself from the eager girl.

"Where have you been? We've all been so worried about you! Who's this?"

"That's a long story, Hermione. Is Ron here? There's something I'm going to do that I'd like to include you guys in."

**End Chapter**

**Next up - recruitment office! I'm looking forward to that part, honestly because my brain has gone on a wave creating the life stories of just about every other student at Hogwarts, and I'm eager to see if you guys like my interpratations. Hestia and Flora Carrow are two of my favorites in that regard. I promise the next update will come earlier then this one, now that I'm finally on vacation!**

**Read and Review please!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Harry's Armada**

**Moon: This bit it more of an interlude, getting a few thoughts down before I continue. Mainly because I was hit with a terrible case of writer's block when I was trying to get through this, so let me apologize now. I promise this won't keep happening. This chapter's mostly Harry-centric, though more characters who will be in the army are being introduced. Also I want to thank my reviewers! 102 reviews and only one jerk. You guys are awesome. I do not own Harry Potter. **

**Chapter 4: Saving Lives and Recruiting Soldiers**

Harry walked through the train with Rachel right behind him. Hermione and Ron were informed now, though they would need some time to process what they'd learned. Harry didn't blame them for that.

"Are you sure you want to risk this Harry?" Rachel asked him softly. Currently she was speaking in the language of Elysium, so no one but herself and Harry could understand what they were saying. "I can give you all the soldiers you need back home."

"I know Rachel," Harry responded. He had learned the language surprisingly quickly once he realized he was speaking it; interprative wards covered all entrances to Elysium. His summer had been a busy one, learning everything he could need for his travels and battle plans. It was then that he had faced himself in the mirror, saw the changes and decided that this was for the better.

The old Harry would have been able to end the war, perhaps, but not without great suffering being involved at the very least. People would die. And who knows what the Death Eaters would be able to do before he had been ready to face Voldemort.

It had hurt to realize this, but Harry had made a few hard realizations about himself while Rachel had been training him. He had not been a good study during his years at Hogwarts. He blamed that much on the Dursleys. They had always punished him for getting better grades then Dudley; it had taken him two years to realize that they didn't care whether his magical grades were good or poor. And by that point he was more inclined to work alongside Ron, who for whatever else he was was not a very good study. Harry was also hotheaded. And he didn't think things through very carefully.

Rachel had understood these things too, and she had altered her training to better help him overcome these problems. The summer had felt like it had gone by too fast, but the dinner he had with the Queen made him realize that there were a few other things that he should do before he continued his war training, and they were earthbound problems.

With all this in mind, Harry decided to banish old Harry and replace him with a soldier, one prepared for the things that he would have to do to win freedom for the world below him.

Now, Harry hadn't wanted to go back to Hogwarts. He didn't want to be anywhere near Dumbledore after the man had let him down time and time again, and he didn't like the sound of the Ministry Official who would be taking up the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts for this year. But Harry had recognized one thing.

The muggleborns were in danger, and he doubted that there was any real protection for them down here. And there was one thing about Harry that he couldn't shake off; he had an inescapable drive to save as many people as possible. Especially ones that he knew. Ones that, say, he had been having classes with.

There was also the matter of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. There would be no better place for Sirius to stay safe then Elysium, because the Aurors wouldn't be able to find him there and he'd be able to leave his house. Rachel also said they had a few treatments for lycanthorpy that would make Remus's transformations more safe. Harry had found that he couldn't leave behind the closest things to a father that he had ever had.

So here he was on the Hogwarts Express with Rachel right behind him, looking for Colin Creevy. There was a very particular reason he was looking for Colin; the boy was very friendly and one of the only people who could claim that he had good friends in all four houses. He could be annoying, but he was endearing in the end, and he knew a lot of the people in Hogwarts.

If anyone could tell Harry who was endangered and who wanted to fight back, it would be him.

Harry walked purposefully down the hall until he reached the compartment he was looking for. He heard talking inside and politely knocked on the door.

The door opened and Colin grinned up at Harry, his brother Dennis and a pale girl Harry didn't recognize were all inside.

"Hey Harry!" Colin said enthusiastically. "Everyone's been wondering where you were! Nice to see you all in one piece!"

"Yeah, thanks Colin. Look can you keep a secret? There's something I want to tell you, and it's really important."

"Of course Harry!"

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&

It took Harry a little while to explain everything to Colin and Dennis. To his complete surprise, they understood the situation they were in very well. When he asked them about this, Colin directed his attention to the pale girl, who had been watching him nervously the whole time. "This is Sally-Anne Perks," Colin said. "Do you remember her? She got sorted, and then she vanished back in the year with the b-basilisk," He grimaced when he said the name of the creature that had nearly killed him.

"She'd been kidnapped," Dennis jumped in at this point. "We don't know by who, and it was just luck that she managed to get away. She was in a right state when we stumbled on her – barely got her to St. Mugo's in time."

Sally nodded timidly, her bright greenish blue eyes watching Harry with traces of hope.

"She couldn't identify the jerk who did it too her," Colin said with a definite note of uncharacteristic anger in his voice, "because the idiot Auror who came in to interview her apparently couldn't take her word or a pensieve memory over a pureblood's. But she did say that she left him in a worse state, so with any luck the jerk won't be able to come after her again."

"It got us thinking," Dennis added. "I mean, we're muggleborns too. Sally doesn't deserve what happened to her and they couldn't even be bothered to investigate because she said that a pureblood was her assailant. Bad stuff's been happening to you, Harry, over the years and you were the one who defeated Voldemort. And you take care of muggleborns and half bloods like us. We couldn't help but wonder, how long before something like this happens to us?"

Rachel made an angry noise. "Disgusting." She spat out. She offered Sally a hand, which the pale girl took shyly. "Nothing bad is going to happen to the three of you on our watch."

"That's part of the reason I'm here," Harry said seriously. "To find the people who are in danger and move them to a safer place. There's a bit more to it then that, but I'll tell you all about that when we get to the safehouse."

"You have a safe house?" Colin said eagerly.

"Of course he's got one. He's the last son of the Potter line." A female voice said with some amusement. Harry and Rachel looked up sharply to see a girl in Slytherin robes standing at the doorway. Her hair was a reddish brown, and her eyes were an outwardly calm blue. But under a carefully held veneer, she was anxious.

She wasn't the only person there. A Ravenclaw girl Harry didn't recognize was hanging a few steps back from Tracey, watching him hopefully.

"Can I help you?" Harry asked pointedly.

"Yes," The girl said, and this time her hesitation was more pronounced. "My name is Tracey Davis. Whatever protection you're giving these three, I'd like to put my name down for it too."

Harry stood up and looked Tracey up and down. He hadn't trusted Slytherins during his first four years at Hogwarts, but he'd reevaluated his stance after his stay at Elysium. "Why?"

"My father wants me to take the Dark Mark when I reach my sixth year," Tracey responded bitterly.

"The Dark Mark? The thing Crouch Jr shot into the sky last year?" Harry echoed.

"Yes. There's a similar one that it put on the arm. It binds you to the Dark Lord, magic and life, and forever marks you as one of his." Tracey said. "My father was not moved by my pleads for him not to turn me into a torturer and murderer. He and other pureblood lords are moving in support of the Dark Lord again, mostly in the shadows."

"What does he intend to do?" Harry asked coolly.

Tracey lowered her head. "To infiltrate the Ministry." Sally and Dennis both made noises of panic. Colin simply watched Tracey with a grim look that matched Rachel's. "Malfoy already has a good deal of influence over Fudge, but when You-Know-Who makes his public debut he'll undoubtedly loose his office."

"And you want no part in it," Harry said, just to clarify.

"I would rather die," Tracey responded heatedly, her tone pleading. "But I have no avenue of escape and no place I might run to."

Harry glanced backwards at Rachel, who studied Tracey's eyes for a second before giving him a slight nod. She was still better at mental magic then he was, and this was her way of letting him know that Tracey was being sincere.

"Alright, you're coming too" Harry said. Tracey's eyes lit up with relief. "But listen. Do you know if any of the other Slytherins don't want to go along with Voldemort's insanity?"

Tracey winced at the name, but nodded after a second. "There are some. Mostly other girls."

Harry turned his attention to the Ravenclaw girl. "And you?" He asked.

The girl blinked and bobbled her head. "Su Li. I'm a muggleborn. You probably don't remember but I was one of the people who got turned to stone by the Basilisk. I never got to thank you for killing it but I am very grateful. We were just passing by and I was hoping you might include me on that list."

Rachel was pleased. This was going better and faster then she had expected it too. She hadn't really wanted to linger at Hogwarts while it was being choked by Ministry interference and one of the worst Headmasters she had heard of, so the faster they located the people ready to skip town, the better.

Harry nodded firmly. "Okay. Listen. I want you two to go and talk to everyone that you know isn't on board with the Ministry's insistence that Voldemort isn't coming back. The people who might be in danger. When dinner's over, you take them and you slip off to the Room of Requirement."

"The Room of Requirement?" Tracey asked, confused.

"It's a hidden room within Hogwarts that most people have forgotten existed," Rachel spoke up. She had told Harry about it on the way to the station. "Likely most of the teachers don't know where it is either. It's the safest place for us to meet."

"Who are you?" Su Li asked, confused.

"My name is Rachel. I'll tell you more in a place where it will be safe," Rachel said.

Tracey nodded again. "We'll be there," she promised. She and Su Li then hurried down the hallway.

Harry sat down again. "See? That's what I'm talking about," He said to Colin, nodding in the direction of the two girls.

Colin nodded. "That doesn't sound good, what she said. Do you reckon she's telling the truth?"

"Yes," Rachel said, "We have nothing to fear from those two girls. But clearly we are running low on time. Colin, do you know anyone who might help?"

Colin looked determined, and Dennis nodded in agreement. Sally spoke for the first time, "There are others in Hufflepuff. I can scout out there, if you'd like." She studied her shoes as she said this.

"That would be brilliant," Harry responded encouragingly. "Bring everyone you can convince."

"I will," Sally-Anne responded in her soft voice, which was starting to sound a little steadier. She rubbed the back of her hand, and for the first time Harry realized that there were scrawling old scars on the back of it. Even magical healing couldn't quite lift the wounds that she had suffered during her imprisonment. "No one should have to go through what happened to me. I don't ever want to get kidnapped again."

"Agreed," Rachel said firmly.

Colin was scribbling up a list of names with a ball-point pen that he had kept inside his coat. "Thanks for helping with this Colin," Harry said.

"Anything for you Harry," Colin said happily.

**At Hogwarts**

Harry walked into the school under his invisibility cloak, not quite ready to announce his return to the world. Rachel stood right next to him, leaning against the wall beside the Gryffindor table as the opening feast began and the first years were sorted.

"I'm glad you'll be missing out on that toad-witch," Rachel said distastefully about halfway through Doloris Umbridge's speech to the school about how progress isn't necessarily good and about how the Ministry would be stepping in to make sure their lives are 'safer'. "She reeks of cruelty and malice under that exterior."

"You wouldn't know it by looking at her," Harry said wryly as she eventually sat down. "But I'm willing to bet that your right." Umbridge did give a distinctive aura that screamed to anyone who had been abused _do not trust this woman!_, as if her little speech hadn't been a big enough indication that she was trouble. He had someone similar back in his grade school with Dudley one year, which had been plenty long enough. He was glad he'd be skipping this DADA year.

"Look at this," Rachel said unhappily. "So this is what the sacrifices of the Greatest Four have come down to? All the old values, forgotten for the sake of propping up the aristocracy and those who have more then enough as it is. Good lord. This is why my mother likes to spend a few months just living among her subjects as a seamstress."

Harry squinted at the Slytherin table. Tracey, sure as her word, was animatedly talking with the girls sitting on either side of her. One was a silent girl with silver hair and the other was a ratty blonde haired girl who was looking hopeful but agitated, and kept glancing down the table as though she suspected that they were being monitored. Sitting next to her was a girl who was clearly her sister, who was focused on draining her goblet, her hand touching her sister's. Maybe it was the distance, but Harry thought that both girls had scars on their faces.

At Ravenclaw, Su Li was talking with an odd blonde girl named Luna and a few others, including an obviously teary Cho Chang. Su looked excited; she took a moment to cast an encouraging look in the direction of Sally-Anne, who had been to nervous to talk outright but had passed notes up and down the Hufflepuff table.

Colin and Dennis at the Gryffindor table had obviously been busy. Gryffindors were talking all through the meal, glancing around and changing seats. McGonagall was watching her table with a slightly confused expression for a few minutes, but in the end she decided that it wasn't important and went back to talking to Professor Sprout.

Harry glanced at Rachel and they both nodded. They left the Great Hall and headed in the direction of the Room of Requirement.

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&

"Thank you all for coming," Harry said.

He was addressing almost four hundred kids who were sitting in rows in the Room of Requirement. Harry had been slightly overwhelmed by the response; he hadn't expected that many to have believed in him considering how often he had been marginalized over the years. They were of all four houses and not all of them were muggleborns. It had been a surprise to discover that some purebloods also thought that Voldemort was evil, and he appreciated the backup. It felt odd, formally addressing his fellow students, but Elizabeth had told him that the tone was needed to get his point across.

"I understand a lot of you are wondering where I've been." Hermione and all the Weasleys nodded their heads vigorously. "That's part of why I'm here now. I know that the Daily Prophet and the Ministry has been saying otherwise, but Voldemort has returned."

He waited for the screams to die down after he said the name, before continuing. "I witnessed it myself. Cedric Diggory was murdered by him, not because he posed any real threat but because he was unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." A couple of girls sobbed at this, most noticeably Cho. "I'm sure many of you know from your parents how terrible the first war with Voldemort was. And with the Ministry denying that he's returned, they are giving him time to plan." Harry paused. This was the most important point.

"Each and every one here has come because they know that they would be in grave danger should Voldemort and his minions regain their former strength. For this time we would be without the Ministry's support." Noticing the rising panic in some people, Harry turned his attention to Rachel. "That is why I've come back from the place where I have been training."

"The person standing next to me is Rachel Sarah Jackson. She's the one who collected me when the Dementors came to my hometown. She's also a princess."

"The safehouse I've spoken of is her home, the kingdom of Elysium. All of you will be granted santuary there until the danger has passed, unless you choose to fight yourselves." He paused and looked around the room. He had everyone's attention. "Questions?" Hands immediately shot up. "Yes?" He nodded to a dark haired boy.

"Graham Pritchard," The boy said. "Elysium is real? It's just an old fairy tale, that's what my family always said."

Rachel took out her wand and spoke a few spells. There was a flash of light as a birds-eye view of Elysium appeared against the wall. There were gasps and chattering all throughout the room. Hermione in particular looked stunned.

"Elysium is protected by a interlocking system of five thousand wards," Harry continued. "Most of which are secrecy wards. This is why most people believe that the city does not exist. It is the safest place out there for those of us who are in danger."

Another hand went up. "Yes?"

"Hestia Carrow," The ratty haired Slytherin said. "Your sure no one can find this place?" She sounded as though she dearly wanted to believe it but didn't quite dare.

"No one found me," Harry responded as comfortingly as he could. "I promise that you will be safer there then anywhere else."

Hestia looked hopeful, though her sister looked like she still had some doubts. Harry turned his attention back to the other students. "Zachary, right?"

"Smith," The Hufflepuff boy said evenly. "You mean to tell us that everything - everything the Daily Prophet has been saying is a lie?"

"Yes," Rachel said firmly. "Voldemort is back. They're only giving him time to plan by saying otherwise." Zachary looked uneasy about this, but nodded reluctantly.

"Eleanor Branstone," A young brown haired Ravenclaw called, "Would we leave right now? What about our parents? Wouldn't they be in trouble too?"

"My mother will be able to summon them once you are all at Elysium," Rachel answered, "The spell only requires a drop of blood to work and it cannot be intercepted."

"Yes Susan?" Harry said, nodding at the redheaded girl

"So what will happen, exactly?" Susan asked, a bit nervous at first but then more determinedly. "When we get there, anyway. Do we just wait for Voldemort to, I don't know, do himself in?"

Harry paused before saying, "I'm going to fight. No one is required to, but there is an armed forces being set up at Elysium. The High Queen will tell you more when we get there."

He looked around. "Who's with me?"

The response was impressive.

**End Chapter**

**This was mostly me covering my bases and naming a few candidates for the army. Next chapter will be longer, I promise!**

**Read and Review please!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Harry's Armada**

**Moon: Welcome back everyone! Here I'm introducing the better part of the recurring cast, so there's some stuff to get through introducing everyone. I hope you like the characters! Anyway, I'm still on the fence when it comes to pairings for the most part, I have a few in mind but I wouldn't mind asking you guys what you think! I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 5: On Elysium, the Beginnings of an Army**

Harry touched down, along with everyone from the room, in the gardens he and Rachel had first transferred to after the incident with the Dementors. He'd come to like the gardens a good deal, they were quite beautiful and a nice place to relax after an intense day of training, watching the sun set casting rose shadows over the ground. Sometimes, Rachel would join him and they would chat about menial things as they watched the lights in the sky. The castle sat not to far in the distance.

He turned around to face the group, watching as his fellow students regained their footing and then looked around in wonder. Hermione was leaning a bit on Ron, staring in disbelief, amazement and shock as she took in the gardens. Harry smiled and shook his head slightly, it was good to see his best friends again. The group was mostly staring around everywhere, trying to take everything in, much like he had arrived here himself.

"That went well," Rachel said, satisfied. "A good number more showed up then I was expecting, but its nothing we can't handle."

"Good," Harry said. "I'm glad for your help, Rachel. Everything."

"No problem," Rachel said with a smile. They both looked at each other for a long moment before turning their attention back to the other Hogwarts students.

"Welcome to Elysium," Harry said warmly. "These are the castle gardens. Now your quarters have been set up within the castle grounds, that's where you'll be staying until further notice," he gestured behind him to the towering castle.

"If you're in need of a medical examination or have a question to ask, don't keep it to yourself. We're here to help," Rachel said. With a friendly smile, she added, "Feel free to have a little look around, we're going to inform the castle of our arrival."

%&%&%&%&&%&%&%^%^%

Hestia Carrow had been staring at the shining palace of Elysium for several long moments before she realized that she was crying. At that very moment, her legs gave out and she collapsed on the grass.

Elysium really was real. She was safe. Safe from her mother. How many times and Alecto said that they could never get away from her, all while brandishing the wand that had brought them so much pain ever since they were born? How many times had she ended up in the Cellar for twice as long because she had tried to get away, struggling to hold onto her humanity and protect her sister? How many times had she gone to sleep trying not to cry with the pain, because if Alecto had heard that would only result in further punishment?

But here she was, in a fairy tale kingdom, far, far away from hell.

"Hestia?" Flora's voice came from somewhere to her right, Hestia looked up to see her older sister crying herself, staring blankly up at the towers of the castle. Flora had been skeptical of Harry's claim that he could give them sanctuary, but unlike so many others he had actually delivered on it. "I can't believe it."

"Neither can I," Hestia whispered, her fingers locking in the soft, welcoming grass. "Neither can I. We're _safe_, Flora. We're _safe_." After a second, she laughed gently, something she couldn't remember doing in the longest time.

Flora also giggled a good amount, but then doubled over, wincing in pain. Hestia scrambled over to her sister, who waved her off impatiently, "Just an old one, H. Nothing serious."

"Our mother's experiments are always serious," Hestia said darkly. She looked over in the direction where Harry and the princess Rachel had left. "The princess said that we can ask for a healer. I think we both better go see one."

Flora nodded weakly, smiling ever so slightly. Hestia was relieved, she was worried her sister would be more stubborn then that.

Colin Creevy was ecstatic, taking pictures of everything he could see. He had thought entering the wizarding world was a fairy tale! He was on a literal floating castle! If only he could write an article on this place, he would have so much to talk about. He couldn't wait until his parents came here too, he would have so much to show them. An all wizarding country. Colin couldn't wait to walk around downtown to see how everything worked with magic, with no humans to hide it from they could really go all out making it part of daily life. Colin was so happy to be a part of it.

Dennis was also extremely hyper, talking eagerly with Sally-Anne while pointing wildly at everything he could. Sally was looking around kind of stunned, blue eyes wide as though they were trying to take in everything at the same time. Colin grinned. He knew that Harry Potter would come through for them one way or another, no matter what the newspaper had been saying about him all summer. And he had. He knew Harry would help. After all, he'd saved them before.

Tracey Davis was in heaven. Almost literally, she figured as she spun around in circles, trying to take the brilliant world of Elysium in.

"It's so beautiful," She told Lilith Moon, who was gazing up at the castle, her usual ice-plate eyes cracking into something like wonder and happy. It was such a far cry from her usual icy reserve, and that only served to make Tracey smile harder. "It's so beautiful, Lilith!"

"I know," Lilith said softly, a lone tear streaking down her cheek. "I know."

Tracey stumbled to the ground, still grinning, dizzy but almost giddy with glee. The castle stood in front of her like a shining jewel, and she was far, far away from her father and his insane friends. She would never take the Mark. She would never become a murderer. It was the best feeling in the world, like walking out of Azkaban and away from the Dementors. Harry had come through for her, despite her being a Slytherin. There weren't many people out there like that. Maybe it was more then she deserved, but Tracey promised herself that she would earn it however she could.

Blaise Zabini was watching the world around him with wonder and scrutiny. He knew that he was taking a gamble when he accepted Potter's offer of sanctuary; it was a bold move that his family hadn't done for generations unless they were certain of results. Blaise had been trained for years as a sleeper agent, wearing different ideologies and attitudes like skins as he grew close enough to make his kill. But something inside Blaise was rebelling against this after the end of his fourth year at Hogwarts and Cedric's death.

Blaise had respected Cedric and known him casually. He knew that his family's usual approach to the war would result in many, many more deaths before it was over. He could step in and start defending his fellow students personally, but how many would he be able to save before he was compromised? Then Harry Potter had returned to the wizarding world saying that the castle of legend was real, and he was creating an army to face the Death Eaters. And every good army needed its spies, didn't it? Besides...Blaise's eyes traced the crowd and happened upon two young girls, Heather Campbell and Luna Lovegood, who were talking animatedly. Yes, he felt much better about his chances in with this motley crew.

Fred and George were impressed. Harry had always been one for mystery and adventure, but he'd managed to top himself yet again with this trip to Elysium. Their mother had often told them about Elysium as a bedtime story! And yet here they were. Fred and George had also realized that this was an entire world that hadn't been introduced to their pranks yet. The possibilities were endless! Fred was also planning to help Harry out in this 'army' he mentioned, they'd stood side by side with Harry before, there was no reason to change now. George was right behind him on that, figuring he'd best watch Fred's back on the field. They'd be the perfect team.

Su Li was thrilled to pieces. Finally, some real safety! And to be frank Su was glad she'd be skipping Umbridge's DADA classes, there was something extremely off about that woman that the young raven didn't trust.

She was talking with the ever watchful Susan Bones about what they might to now that they were here. Susan, ever the future-looking, carefully plotting girl hidden behind the Hufflepuff mask, figured that Harry would need other tacticians. She was already probably analyzing the weaknesses of the Ministry building, Su Li figured with some amusement.

Su herself was on the fence on whether or not she was planning on joining Harry's army; she'd never fought for her life before and the closest she'd come to death was in her second year thanks to Voldemort's basilisk. But she really did owe the snake faced freak for that one, didn't she?

Mandy Brocklehurst stood agape, impressed with Harry once again. Mandy had always been an idealist especially when it came to other people, which is why the Daily Prophet's attitude towards Voldemort's return had been a great source of distress for her. She had been so relieved when Harry Potter came back to the school, unharmed and offering an alternative to just waiting for Voldemort to make another debut that would force the Ministry to admit that he was back. Mandy knew that she and her best friend Megan Jones, who she was holding hands with, weren't going to be great warriors, but something she was good at was giving speeches. Maybe Harry would let her rally the troops or send messages to the surface below, to convince some adults to come up and join them.

Graham Pritchard examined the situation he was now in with a good deal of interest. So Elysium really did exist. This called into question a lot of things that people on the Surface seemed to consider complete fact. And if those things weren't true, what about the other things everyone had been told was simple fact? Including the vaulted invincibility of the Death Eaters and of course Tom Riddle himself. Graham had always prided himself on his eye for detail. It was one of the reasons he had known the Daily Prophet was spewing lies from day one. He had watched Harry quite carefully over the years, and he knew that the boy had always been on their side, often protecting them from monsters that the adults were either wilfully ignoring or just ignorant of at great risk to himself. The adults calling him insane and dangerous? They were far more of a danger to the ones they said they were protecting them Harry was, and they had four years worth of idiocy behind them to prove it.

With the Ministry being bumbling, useless fools at best and obstructive tyrants at worst, it had been easy for Graham to go with Harry. This way, they had a fighting chance. This way, more people would survive.

Eleanor Branstone was beside herself with eagerness and amazement. She all but bounced along the edges of the garden, looking at everything she could, smelling the flowers and trying to climb the trees so she could see out across the city. She was on a fairy tale continent! Her mother would be thrilled to see this place, they had both enjoyed fantasy stories so much before Eleanor entered the wizarding world. It was like her dreams coming to life!

Zacharias Smith was beginning to think that he made the right decision, coming to Potter's meeting. Considering Potter's long, hard life, Zach had wondered multiple times if the boy should transfer and start seeing a mental therapist before he tore his mind apart. There was too much stress in his life and it would be better if he left for a quiet place and stopped trying to put himself in more danger.

"That kid is going to get himself killed, if he keeps this up," He remembered saying that to himself when he'd heard through the Hogwarts gossip mill that Potter had almost been Kissed by the Dementors that had been stationed around the school.

Except it was one thing to say a boy is crying wolf and another thing for him to prove himself by taking you to a continent that by everyone's word should not exist. And if Elysium did exist, anything really was possible, wasn't it?

Padma and Pavarti Patil were glad they hadn't dismissed Su Li's suggestion of coming to this secret meeting. Pavarti knew that she had gotten off on the wrong foot with Harry during the Yule Ball and she hoped that she'd be able to get a better relationship with him in the future, and that she'd be able to be of use to him in this army thing. Padma wasn't about to leave her twin's side and she wasn't about to tolerate any more of the Ministry's stupidity. There is no more Voldemort, really. Then Cedric Diggory just dropped dead on his own accord, did he?

Lavander Brown was nervous. It was possible to just be here for sanctuary, right? You weren't required to fight. Lavander wasn't much of a fighter, she hadn't been very adept at the duelling club she had joined in second year. Harry had said that the army was for volunteers. That was a relief, she figured.

Hermione Granger was in shock. She'd always prided herself in logic and believing in simple, grounded fact, and yet here was a legendary castle staring straight back at her in total disagreement with almost everything she'd believed about the wizarding world prior to this. This is where Harry had been staying? No wonder they couldn't reach him! Hermione hoped that her best friend wasn't too angry with her for not writing to him over the summer; hopefully her following him here made it clear that she was still willing to follow him to the bitter end.

Ron Weasley was overwhelmed. This was what his best mate had been up to all summer, when the Order had been tearing its hair out wondering where he'd disappeared to. Wow. He'd been staying in a castle and was on casual speaking terms with a princess. Ron felt the stirrings of familiar jealousy building up in his stomach and forced them down with effort. He was _not _going down that route again, not after everything Harry had gone through last year and over the summer with what the Daily Prophet had been doing. No, now he was going to do the job of a best mate and stick by Harry no matter what. Including joining this odd army of his.

Cho Chang was fighting back tears. This was distressingly common for her ever since the death of her boyfriend Cedric, but this time she was fighting it for a different reason. Cho had known Cedric had died because of Voldemort. Harry told her before he left that year, and Harry was always honest with others. Cho had believed that no one would do anything about it, and the idea that the Dark Lord was just going to sweep in and take everything over by storm had become more and more possible to her grieving mind. Then Harry had re-appeared and offered her sanctuary, and a chance to pay back the monster who had taken Cedric from her. Cho roughly brushed the tears away from her eyes. No more crying, she decided. It was time to get even.

Ginny Weasley was grateful that Harry hadn't been hurt for the months that he had been missing and completely at awe over the fact that she was in Elysium. The army, her mother would be really unhappy to know that her daughter was out fighting with the soldiers, but Ginny no longer wanted to sit idly by while the world went to hell. No, she was going to help Harry fight. If nothing else, she wanted to make sure that Harry stayed safe. He'd gone through too much alone over the years, to much pain and distrust. Well, he wasn't alone anymore, and someone was going to watch his back. Ginny planned on being that person.

Dean Thomas was inordinately pleased that his belief that Voldemort had returned was proven true. He had been dormmates with Harry ever since they had entered Hogwarts together, and it was a source of great anger for him the way the papers and Ministry had been treating him. He looked out over the forests of Elysium, and he wondered what exactly the 'boy wonder' had planned for the future. Dean would follow him on that, there was a magnetism to Harry that made you believe in him, once you had gotten to know him.

Daphne Greengrass knew she had made the decision that would protect her sister when they touched down on the legendary city of the Founders. Daphne had weighed the risks of joining her parents cause and found it wanting, greatly. Astoria was the jewel of Daphne's life and there was no way she was going to risk it over some petty blood feuds. Harry had said that they didn't have to take part in the war if they did not wish it. Daphne, perhaps, would have to join to prove that she wasn't a sleeper agent or a coward hiding behind the stronger men for protection, but Astoria would be safe. Harry Potter, for whatever else he might have been, was always ridiculously noble. He wouldn't put her Tori in danger. And that was enough for Daphne.

Neville Longbottom fainted upon his arrival to Elysium. Hannah Abbot sat by his side, having elected herself his minder until he woke up, watching the proceedings with wonder. The garden was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen; Neville would enjoy it a lot when he came to again. Portkeys had never agreed with him much. She wouldn't be much of use in a fight, the young girl had decided, but that didn't rule out being a Healer. Hannah believed that healing was her calling, and every good army needed people to help the injured.

Neville had the potential to be a great warrior. Hannah had seen it in the way she had watched him over the years. Here, he had the chance of unlocking his full potential. Hannah was sure of it.

"Everyone?"

The group collectively turned to Harry and Rachel Jackson, who had returned from the castle. There was a certain authoritative look to Rachel that she didn't have back on earth, which was attributed to being back on her home, where she was the authority.

"Everything is in order," Rachel Sarah Jackson said, "Those of you who have family that you wish to bring to Elysium, please follow me. The rest of you, follow Harry. He'll brief you on everything we have prepared so far, and then you'll be directed to your dorms. Ten hut!"

A good portion of the group broke off and followed Rachel down a lower path, while Harry gestured amiably for the rest to follow him.

**Back at Hogwarts**

Minvera McGonagall knew that something had happened when only four students came to her classroom the day following the first.

She'd known, of course, that nothing good was going to come out of Umbridge's arrival at the school. That woman false kind face was more then obvious to McGonagall, though the dephts of the woman's depravity were still unknown to her. The old teacher had suspected something was occurring during dinner last evening. The tables seemed to be buzzing with unease and some sort of excitement. Children had been looking back and forth secretively, whispering to each other and pointing here and there as they talked. During the meal, some Gryffindors had even gotten up, walked over to other tables and talked to rival house members, all with a look of utmost urgency on their faces.

Even the Slytherin table seemed to be joining in on this odd hubhub. It seemed to mostly consist of girls, though some of the boys were involved as well. Blaise Zabini was oddly conversational that evening, as he mostly stayed silent even in class, only speaking when called on. The same with Lilith Moon. There was a low hum of energy in the air that night.

A quick glance at their head of house Snape had proved that this was not an ordinary occurrence. The man was watching his students with a certain amount of curiosity, frowning slightly though not enough for the toad woman to pick up on their mutual confusion.

They didn't need to give her any reason to start railing against their students any more then McGonagall knew she would the very next day.

Dumbledore had chalked it up to Harry's continued disappearance, but McGonagall wasn't sure it was that simple. There was something that the students were planning, and she had only hoped that it wouldn't get them into any deeper water with the Ministry. Fudge was refusing to see reason, and any serious resistance to the toadlike woman was only going to make him crack down harder. It was a miserable situation to be in, but there was nothing the aging witch could do about it, except only keep her students as safe as possible.

And then no one had come to class.

They were all Slytherins and all boys, and they looked just as confused as she felt. Draco Malfoy was just staring into the classroom, a look of blank shock on her face. Crabbe and Goyle, his two equally dumb accomplices, were just staring around with blank expressions on their faces.

"Boys," McGonagall said, a sudden feeling of forbidding welling up in her stomach. "Where are your classmates? And where are the Gryffindors?"

"I don't know, Professor," Draco said dumbly, just staring. "I came to class on time but I haven't seen anyone. The halls are just deserted."

McGonagall rose from her seat. "You four stay here." She left the room and hurried in the direction of her house. What did they think they were doing? Trying to boycott the new teacher? Hiding out in protest? What were they expecting to achieve?

When she got to her house, she found it empty. Almost completely. There were a few boys and one girl left behind, but aside from that they were simply _gone_. Empty.

McGonagall raced back down the stairs to find Professor Flitwick, Pomona, and Snape all gathered in the great hall, talking agitatedly. "Over half of my house is gone," She reported, her voice faltering at bit as she finally reached them.

"I'm missing most if not all of my female students," Snape reported, eyes narrowed. "Most of the boys have remained but a good chunk of them are gone as well, especially among the lower years. The remaining ones don't seem to understand what happened."

"Most of my Ravenclaws are also missing," Flitwick said in his squeaky voice. "No sign of a break in, and the paintints said that they didn't see anyone suspicious."

"Half of my Hufflepuffs are gone," Pomona fretted, "_Half_. The other half seems to be rather confused, but they aren't hurt. They said that thye didn't hear anyone come in last night, but where could they have possibly disappeared to?"

"I think I might have an answer to that," The four Heads turned and saw one of the Hogwarts ghosts, the Bloody Baron, floating over to them.

"Children entered the Room of Requirement last night," The chained ghost droned, "A good four hundred of them.'

"Why?" McGonagall whispered. "What happened?"

"Last night they were all speaking of freedom and safety from the dark forces they are convinced are coming," The Bloody Baron said gravely, "They were speaking of Harry Potter giving them sanctuary in a hidden land. They went into the Room of Requirement and they never came out. The youngest said that they were going to Elysium, where they would be safe from the dark lord and from the ones who hide his return."

The floor suddenly felt unstable to McGonagall, and she was grateful that she had a chair to lean on. "Elysium?" She whispered. "Is that code for something? Elysium doesn't exist."

The Bloody Baron's eyes were suddenly full of pain, old pain and memory. "But it does, Professor McGonagall. Elysium is as real as Hogwarts itself. Elysium is where my love fled after the ancient battle, taken from me forever. That is where the children are now."

He paused for a long moment, and then said, "Becase they didn't think any of you would protect them."

**At Grimmauld Place**

"Remus!"

Both Remus and Molly halted what they were doing when Sirius bolted into the sitting room with a letter in hand, eyes blazing. "Remus, I've got a note from Harry!"

Remus got to his feet immediately and moved to his friend's side. "Oh thank goodness!" Molly said in relief, "Is he alright?"

"Dear Sirius, Remus and Mr&Mrs Weasley, I have found a safe place for us to stay until we're prepared to fight Voldemort. I've been there for over two months now, I'm sorry if I worried you by disappearing but I didn't really have a choice. Sirius, is you come here you won't be in danger from any law force, you can walk around freely. Remus, there's at least one support group for werewolves inside the palace that you can join just fine. Mr and Mrs Weasley, make sure you bring Charlie and Bill with you. If Percy hasn't come back we'll have to get him later. The chain in this envelope is a portkey, I'm waiting at Elysium. Harry." Sirius read aloud, eyes widening the further he read in the letter.

"But Elysium's a myth, isn't it?" Remus asked tentatively.

"Has Harry ever lied to us?" Molly responded determinedly, "And this does sound to be better for both of you. I want to make sure Harry's alright before I do anything else. Arthur! Get Charlie and Bill in here, quickly!"

A moment later, the rest of the Weasleys piled into the room. Quickly Sirius removed the portkey and the group vanished in a flash of light.

**End Chapter**

**And there we go! The straightforward recruiting and training will start happening next chapter, along with the general British public's reaction to four hundreds students disappearing which will admittedly be VERY NEGATIVE. Hey, no one said that it was going to be easy...Don't worry, Voldemort will make his first move very soon, along with longer chapters.**

**Read and Review please!**


End file.
